Redwood Park
by CoralChoral
Summary: Redwood Park is a romantic city. Surrounded, not by housing editions, but by nature on all sides, it attacts young lovers in search of adventure. Meet two hedgehogs who are not. Rated T for use of alcohol.
1. Meet Sonic

Sonic had been in this city longer than he'd been anywhere else. He had a usual at every restaurant. He was on a first name basis with everyone. He had his own spot where anyone in town could find him if they needed him. Sitting in this spot, Sonic was somewhat surprised at the revelation he'd had while deciding what to do that day. He'd settled down. This rural city, isolated by the national park on one side and the wildlife preserve on the other, seemed to be the perfect place to do so, too. It seemed like an oxymoron, but the fact that soft, rolling plains and massive trees converged on skyscrapers was a rather amusing contrast that Sonic found endearing. Sonic hopped out of the redwood that was unofficially his and bounced to a stop before heading into the city for lunch.

A few minutes later, Sonic was munching on a chilidog in one of the local diners. It was crowded but quiet. Way quieter than normal, noticed Sonic. He set down his mostly-eaten lunch and looked around. The other patrons gave him worried glances. Mothers held their children close. Raising an eyebrow at their unusual behavior, Sonic motioned to a waitress walking by. She came to his table and leaned in as Sonic leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"What's going on, Harriet? Everyone seems…Worried."

Harriet seemed worried too as she shakily replied: "Shadow the Hedgehog."

Sonic knew Shadow, or at least, he used to. Some time ago they were sort-of friends. A few years back though, Sonic had been heading out of town when he came across Shadow, who had been practicing some kind of martial arts when Sonic got in the way. In other words, Sonic got the snot beaten out of him by complete and utter accident. Before Sonic could realize what happened, he was waking up in a hospital a week later, still in pain. Sonic was sorry for interrupting Shadow's practice, but he could never seem to find Shadow to apologize.

The last Sonic had heard of Shadow was that "she" had been released from a high-security insane asylum with "her" caretaker's insistence that "she" was no longer a threat to "herself" or anyone. Sonic had never heard that Shadow had been put into an insane asylum in the first place, and he supposed that either the caretaker or the news reporter had trouble with gender-specific pronouns.

Now, Shadow was coming to town, and all the citizens were apprehensive. Sonic understood their concern. There was a time when Shadow could be very dangerous, and Sonic wasn't entirely sure that time was over. However, he was willing to risk it.

Sonic could see every entrance and exit from his spot. The city was laid out like a map before him. Shadow would enter by one of three ways- car, by the highway; bicycle, by the national park's bike path; or by plane, to the airstrip just opposite the highway. Sonic narrowed down the options easily: the airstrip was closed, because the runway was due for resurfacing, and the national park's resort was mostly empty in the dead of summer (save for some camping nuts who want a little more than the bare necessities). But about an hour up the highway was the next city, where Shadow had yet to be seen.

As Sonic considered every possible way for Shadow to enter the city and why he would use that way in particular, his mind hit a point where it stalled like the engine of the old, broken-down tour bus that wandered back and forth between the cities in the summer. For a minute, all Sonic thought about was bird calls. He picked out a particular call and managed to attract a rather depressing-looking blue jay before he recalled the previous simile. The bus. It had left around noon and was probably going to be bringing back a load of passengers- and Shadow might be included. Sonic again left his spot, running along the tree line to see if he could find that bus.

The bus was just passing the halfway point when Sonic caught up to it. The old thing was rumbling along, barely holding together. Sonic ran alongside the big, green tourist-toter, looking into the windows at all the unfamiliar faces who stared off into the trees, curious onlookers hoping for a nice vacation before heading home with a few souvenirs and memories. Then Sonic saw Shadow. The black hedgehog leaned against the window, fast asleep, breath slightly fogging the window and obscuring his muzzle. For some reason, this made Sonic smile. He had never seen Shadow sleep before. He had never seen Shadow sit down before. And the fact that Shadow was asleep on the crowded bus let Sonic know that Shadow was different. He wasn't in town to sightsee. He might even be here to stay. This thought gave Sonic a pleasant feeling. He could make up for his mistake; make sure there were no hard feelings.

Sonic exceeded the speed limit and headed back to the city. Things were looking up.


	2. Meet Shadow

The next morning, Sonic was impressed by the gossip he heard over breakfast. He was munching on a biscuit that had bacon and eggs as filling while listening in on the cashier's conversation. Apparently, the man had been out drinking last night when Shadow the Hedgehog came in, sat down at the bar, paid for everyone's drinks, and proceeded to have a grand old time; getting to know people, telling jokes, singing songs, and getting completely plastered before leaving.

Sonic was amazed. This was a side of Shadow that he had never seen. Telling jokes? Singing? Drinking? Shadow seemed eager to make a name for himself amongst the citizens. Sonic turned to the cashier.

"Did he say where he was staying?"

The man shrugged. "Mr. B on Third Street said that he was staying in one of the apartments, I think."

Mr. Bernard was the owner and operator of the apartment complex that took up most of Third Street. A lot of people lived there because there was no suburban area, but there always seemed to be enough room for anyone who wanted to move in.

Sonic paid for his meal and headed over to Third Street.

* * *

Shadow had only yesterday arrived in the city and already she had a hangover. She pulled on her clothes and stumbled out the door to the elevator. The lift was empty, so she took her cell phone out of her pocket and texted a journal entry.

"Day one in Redwood Park City. Went out drinking last night. Made sixteen new contacts."

She filled in the names and numbers of her new friends.

"Going out to get a job today. Have enough money to last until Apocalypse, but might as well have something to do."

She glanced at the elevator buttons as the machine came to a stop, the door opening. A human woman and her four-or-so-year-old son entered the lift. Shadow continued texting silently.

"To recap: Looked up RPC because of regular Sonic sightings in area. Want to meet Sonic again. Not sure what I'll do if-"

Shadow looked up from her text. The little boy was tugging her tail and trying to get his mother's attention at the same time. Shadow looked down at the boy, putting her phone away.

"Hello," said Shadow, getting the boy's attention, "I'm Shadow. What's your name?"

The boy was in awe. "I'm Steven!" he piped. This caught the mother's attention. She pulled her son away, muttering something about not talking to strangers. The boy looked longingly at his new acquaintance and Shadow shrugged. Steven shrugged back, and the elevator was silent, save for Shadow's continued texting, until they reached the ground floor.

The elevator door opened and Shadow entered the main lobby, greeting Mr. Bernard and checking out for the day. Mr. B stopped Shadow as she was about to leave, though.

"You have a gentleman caller, mademoiselle," he whispered, his old-man-romantic personality shining through. He winked, pointing toward the sitting area and no doubt to the high-backed chair which faced away from them.

"Gentleman caller?" Shadow frowned. She wasn't here to date. Someone at the bar liked her? Whoop-dee-frickin'-doo. Shadow had listened to the radio enough to know that love wasn't a good thing. Sure, Redwood Park was this country's equivalent of Paris, romance-wise, what with all the adventure associated with the surrounding reserves and blahdy-blahdy-blah… Shadow shook her head and walked out the door. The bar had been filled with humans, anyway- what kind of perverted weirdo would want to go out with a hedgehog?

* * *

"Um, Sonic," called Mr. Bernard, "Shadow just left. Sonic?"

Sonic woke up from his doze in the high-backed chair in the apartment complex lobby and hurried out the door, just barely sleepy enough to miss the black hedgehog turning the corner.

Sonic rushed around, asking anyone and everyone if they'd seen Shadow walk by. He thought he had found a trail, for a moment, but it stopped at the post office. Sonic's mind stalled again as he considered Shadow needing stamps for some reason, and bought a newspaper, reading it as he walked up the street, not realizing that, as he obscured both his vision and his visage, that a hedgehog farther up the street was doing the exact same thing; only reading the classified ads, rather than the sports section. The other hedgehog turned the corner and sat down on a bench as Sonic continued across the street and up the next block, stopping at his favorite diner and entering the eatery.

* * *

Shadow decided that there wasn't anything really interesting in the job world right now and settled on a full-time job as a waitress at a diner up the street. The help-wanted sign was still in the window as Shadow walked in.

* * *

Sonic was engrossed in his newspaper-reading when an oddly familiar voice caught his ear.

"Hello, I heard you had an opening for a waitress?"

Sonic spaced out for a moment, trying to recognize the voice as the cashier bade the voice-haver join him in the back office to discuss it with the manager. Sonic's mind was running especially slow this morning; by the time his common sense reminded him that he could match a name to a face by just looking up, the voice-haver was gone. Sonic scratched his head. She had a lovely voice, whoever she was.

"Must be a singer," he mused, flipping back through the newspaper.


	3. Meet Amy

Sonic's curiosity about the lady with the wonderful voice faded quickly. He was much more interested in where Shadow had disappeared to. Once a week, Sonic would hear about Shadow's latest bar antics and now-notorious all-nighters and he would wish that for once he could join in- of course, with his luck, that would be the night something would come to destroy the world as we know it and he would be to inebriated to do anything about it. Not only that, but he could never pin down exactly where Shadow was going to be and when. It seemed to be a different night every week, in a different one of the four bars in town, coming in at about ten at night and leaving about two in the morning.

Sonic felt like a stalker, reading over all this information he'd written down about Shadow. He sat in his spot with a small notepad he'd scribbled all over with notes about the black hedgehog and looked out over the city, the quickly darkening sky and cooling air of late September forcing him to stay up in his tree all night with a flashlight and a, well, no pencil anymore. He'd dropped it by accident and couldn't see it in the darkness. Unlike the rest of his species, Sonic had trouble seeing in the dark. He wasn't sure how, but his eyes had been damaged at a young age; the rods, used to see in daylight, were just fine, but the cones, shaped to magnify light at night, were completely shot. Added to that was the fact that the city required orange street lights to avoid bothering the surrounding wildlife. It was out of Sonic's sight range naturally, anyway. Therefore, Sonic had to stay put at night, unable to go out and search the bars or wait at the apartments to find Shadow, and it had been this way for the past three months.

However, the fact that Shadow was still in the city gave Sonic an odd feeling; sort of a cross between hope and indigestion. He would keep searching.

Shadow the waitress was fairly successful at her job. People liked her, and since she'd become somewhat indispensable to the manager, she stopped considering other jobs. Of course, her income paid for everything she needed and the fortune she'd amassed in the previous years lay untouched in a small safe she kept in her apartment. She still hadn't seen Sonic yet, but the blue hedgehog was something you couldn't chase down, as Shadow knew, but someone else had yet to find out.

Sonic's last fifty-two sightings were sent in from around Redwood Park City. The young girl smiled. She had him cornered, now. Even the ever-drifting wind stops at some point. She stared out the window of the perilous bus at the redwood trees along the side of the road and frowned. Couldn't they make a decision about that? Either the city stayed and the forest went or the forest stayed and the city went- that was her opinion. She would prefer to keep the city. More shopping. More people. That was how she worked. She thought it funny, ironic, even, that Sonic would chill out in a city founded almost entirely on romance. Redwood Park got most of its tourism income from young couples looking for some time alone, older couples searching to regain that romantic spark, and singles hoping to get started in the dating scene. That last one was her. As soon as she found Sonic, she would make him show her around. She fluffed her hair and glared at the trees some more. Amy Rose was ready. She was going to see the sights, stay a week or so, and leave with Sonic in tow. It would be perfect.

Amy booked herself a hotel room and went to a nearby diner for breakfast. It was a quaint little place, not much décor besides the silly music memorabilia all over the walls and a terrible-looking jukebox in the corner by the counter. Old rock music offended Amy's ears as she sat down at the table closest to the door. She already didn't like this place. "Hello," said a waitress, coming over to Amy's table, handing her a menu, "Would you like anything to drink?" Amy looked up at the waitress and her eyes widened in incredulous disapproval. "Shadow, is that you?" "Amy," acknowledged Shadow, "what brings you to Redwood Park?" "Sonic, of course," boasted Amy, "once I find him, he's as good as married!"

Shadow felt her hangover coming back, bringing his friend migraine for a visit.

"Amy," sighed Shadow, "I've been here three months and I've not seen head or tail of that hedgehog. I doubt you'll find him. Would you like anything to drink?" Amy grinned, crossing her arms. "You just haven't been looking hard enough," she laughed, "I'll have Sonic by tonight, you'll see." "Would you like anything to drink?" asked Shadow, glancing around at the other tables she had to check on. Nobody seemed too impatient or needy right now, so she had some time. "I bet it'll be easy," continued Amy, ignoring Shadow's pleas to drop the subject and return to the business at hand, "One glance and Sonic will be running to me!" "Do you want anything to drink?" Shadow's patience wore thin. She had other things to do right now. Other patrons attempted to get her attention. "You know, three months is a long time for two people to live in the same little town and never see each other. Do you think he's just avoiding you?" "Are you thirsty?" insisted Shadow, teeth clenched, looking at the other customers. When was her shift over? "Maybe he's already seen you and decided that you're really not the Shadow he remembers. That's what I think. Or maybe he just heard about that whole thing about them putting you in the loony bin…" Shadow's face blanched. She couldn't believe Amy was doing this to her. In public! "Or maybe it's just because you're as big as a house. Have you ever considered losing some weight?"

In a flash, Shadow was knocking on the manager's door.

Mr. Eiglestein was a nice man, very understanding, but if there was one thing he didn't like, it was tourists. True, they were business, but he'd rather live in his little bubble of familiar faces. Mr. E stepped out of his office and was surprised to see his star waitress in tears.

"Table one," she sniffled, "I'm going to take a two-minuter, okay?"


	4. Weird Similes

Sonic had had a headache all day. For the first time in his life, he'd been studying; looking for a pattern in Shadow's behavior, something he could track; could follow. Sonic had never felt so lost in a town where he knew everyone. The Friday afternoon was warm but breezy and-

Sonic was pulled from his thoughts by someone shaking his tree with considerable force. He looked down. "Oh, for Heaven's sake…"

"Hey, Sonic! I know you're up there!" cried Amy, smacking the tree with her hammer. "Come on down, Sonic!"

Sonic climbed down, hoping to greet Amy and send her on her way so he could get back to work. No such luck. As soon as Sonic was within range, Amy grabbed his arm and didn't let go.

"Hey, Sonic, I'm new in town," she said, leaning against his shoulder.

"I guessed," said Sonic, unenthused.

"So, could you show me around?" asked ever-peppy Amy, "I wouldn't want to get lost in this big city all by myself."

Sonic was really not up for walking around all day, but you don't say no to Amy Rose.

It was getting late. Sonic headed down Main Street, Amy having become stuck fast to Sonic's arm, much like a lone, confusing barnacle to a temporarily docked speedboat. Sonic stopped outside his favorite diner. He hadn't eaten there in a long time and right now he was seriously craving some Sloppy Joes- the Friday night special. "How about eating dinner here?" suggested Sonic, the slightly tinted window attracting his attention as a figure in white, he guessed a waitress, had walked up to the main counter and turned towards them, slumping against the cash register platform. Sonic momentarily felt concerned for her, but once again, Amy had something else to say.

"No way, Sonic. We are going to a nice restaurant for dinner!"

* * *

Shadow couldn't believe it. Amy had done it. In one day, Amy had done it. There she was, showing Sonic off outside the diner's front window. And even worse, there was Sonic. He looked the same as he ever did, long blue quills glinting in the lights of the evening city; a slender arm pointing out the diner's sign; striking green eyes gazing into the window, then staring with seeming disbelief at Amy, who proceeded to drag him away.

Tears filled Shadow's eyes as she slumped against the cash register platform. She was going drinking tonight.

The bar was silent as Shadow walked in that night. Her eyes were dull; lifeless. Normally she would arrive with at least a smile, perhaps an opening joke. Not tonight. Tonight she went up to the bartender, ordered a drink, and sang. Quietly at first, almost as if she wasn't quite sure what she was singing about, but after every line she took a swig from her glass and things became louder and clearer. Love lost. That was the theme tonight. The patrons were all familiar with this, but there wasn't much they could think of to do for Shadow. Her heart had been broken before she even knew she had one, that is, "loved and lost" without having "loved." Shadow's strange, orange-tinted tears left dark spots on her green shirt. Watching the poor girl drink herself into a coma was almost enough to make the bartender tear up on its own, but her song of sadness sent even the strongest of men in the bar bawling; her honeyed alto voice causing stone hearts to bleed.

* * *

The rules of the contest were hardly known, and the ones that were known were unfair. But as Amy had Sonic escort her to her hotel that night, there had never been a sorer winner in the world.

And she had yet to even begin.


	5. She was drunk

Sonic wandered the streets that night, hugging the walls and trying to find his way back to the path out of town to his tree in the national park. Amy had stranded him blind at the opposite end of the city, with a dozen busy streets between him and home. Sonic had almost lost hope when he bumped into a voice-haver he hadn't heard in three months near a busy street.

"Heh- h-ey yooou. Neesome 'elp?" She was drunk. Sonic could smell the alcohol on her breath, mingling with an odd salty smell, perhaps sweat or tears.

It was better than nothing, he supposed, lifting his head and responding: "Yeah, a little bit. I'm kind of blind right now." She took his hand. "N'prob'm. Werya live?"

"Out in the national park," said Sonic without thinking. Suddenly he realized that not only was he sounding crazy right now, she would have to stumble through the streets back to her home, in as much danger as he had been in before they'd met. "I- I mean-!"

"Anno wertha bikepath is, buddah dun go'ny futher'n'at; Idunava bike!" She laughed at her joke and crossed the street, her motor skills seemingly uninhibited by her intoxication.

Sonic followed along, somewhat confused by the fact that it felt like they were moving in a straight line. "That's okay; I can probably find my way from there."

They were moving along at a quick pace, but they weren't going fast enough for Sonic to worry about her hitting anything, though while he was here, he might as well get to know her a bit; it never hurt to make a new friend. "So, are you a waitress at Eiglestein's diner?"

"Howju noddat? Assure am. Thur-ee munse now. 'Sa funjob, minu peple, aresar nise…"

"Hm. You go out drinking earlier tonight?" asked Sonic, not wanting to ask to loaded a question.

"Wa-wassur fursc-loo? Yah, binawt et Ell's. Wha?"

Al Achille owned the northernmost bar in the city. Its patrons were not the most cheerful of people. "Just wondering… Why did you go there? Any reason in particular?"

She was quiet for a minute, only their footfalls measuring the time. "Addrink a lot. Boud… wunssa week. Bud… Tunyed ah-… tunyde ah drinkto fergit."

"Oh." They were both quiet. She sniffled a bit and stopped at another busy street. Sonic felt her squeezing his hand. She wore gloves, he noticed, feeling a sort of cushion between his gloves and her long, thin fingers.

"Alla gice sedda bawtid- sedda nawthink abawtid. Sedd'l g'way. Wone." Sonic didn't know what to say. He'd considered giving her that same advice, to not think about it, but apparently it didn't work as well as advertised. "Drather tawkabawtid. Wanna hearabawtid?"

"All right," replied Sonic. If she wanted to talk, let her talk.

"Sumawd yearsa'go, abidup dis guy. Wassun aksidun; puddiminna coma. Thoddah kildum. Didun wanna livny more. Depummee inna box fer'a cuple years. Herdee wassalyve, livn'ere, whenah gaddout. Thur-ee munsa lukin fr'im an firse ah see uh'fim is 'e's wivvanudder girl. Saym girlud maydfunna me earlyur tuhday. Shiduneevun care abawtim." She sobbed.

Sonic let go of her hand and carefully followed her arm up to her shoulder by touch, and patted it in encouragement. "It'll be okay. This kind of thing happens all the time. It just wasn't meant to be, that's all. You'll find a good man, someday. I'm sure of it."

* * *

Shadow didn't know whether it was the alcohol thinking or a strange twist of destiny, but this bizarre hedgehog had really pulled her out of the dumps. They were near where the bike path converged with the street, but she didn't want to say goodbye just yet. Out of the spontaneity of the moment, Shadow turned and gave him a hug, thanking him for his support before pointing him in the direction of the path and watching him go.

Walking home, Shadow resolved to move on in her life, and never to forget the kind orange hedgehog that showed her the way.


	6. Escape from Amy

Sonic awoke with a start, nearly falling out of his tree. He'd forgotten to ask her name!

It had been about a week since Amy had arrived and she had already instituted a routine of dragging Sonic all around town and keeping the poor blue hedgehog out too late for him to naturally wake up early enough to escape her morning wake-up call. Sonic had to admit it was a smart plan, but his lack of sleep was wearing on his brain cells. He had to strap his flashlight to his glove cuff so he wouldn't forget to bring it with him to use on the way home. But lo! The sun was just barely rising o'er the treetops and Amy had yet to arrive! Perchance his luck was a-changin'?

Sonic glanced around, searching for a more inconspicuous tree to hide in. One with thicker foliage grew within jumping distance. Sonic was in the process of setting his sights on the tree when he was startled by the sound of footfalls on the path approaching his spot. He panicked. In his panic he leaped off of his tree and landed a couple feet short of the branches of the nearby tree, clinging to the trunk and trying to compute how to reach the oh-so-close safe haven of the needly branches. The footsteps were getting closer. Sonic's pupils shrank to near nonexistence; his grip was loosening. He stretched upward toward the nearest branch, about a mile away and counting to his sleep-deprived eyes. Amy Rose's voice rang out through the forest like an ice-related pun echoes through a snowy landscape to the ears of a groaning pessimist. She called Sonic's name, as she often did to alert Sonic of her presence.

The jig was up. No doubt she had seen him and was whipping out her hammer to ensure Sonic's literal downfall. Sonic would have given up, but his brain finally registered that he had, in fact, gotten a hold of the bough he had been straining for. He almost celebrated.

WHACK!

A pause. Sonic had heard the hit, but the tree he was in hadn't budged. Sonic pulled himself up into the branches of the new tree and looked down. Amy was not there. He heard her voice and another whack. Much to Sonic's joy, Amy had not seen him. She was still assaulting the tree he had been in previously. Sonic smiled, dozing off again and deciding to go to Eiglestein's diner for lunch and hopefully learn the name of that sweet-voiced girl. Maybe she knew Shadow.

* * *

Shadow smiled. She had just been promoted to supervisor and now kept track of the other employees, or rather, made the orders for others to take the orders of customers. Her first day was going well when the cook got an order he was having some trouble with. The old cook had retired last month, and although Robert was okay at the job, he was still the new guy, and, thankfully, quick at learning. Like a sponge, that boy. Shadow read the order.

"Ten chilidogs, extra onions…" The first thing she noticed was that the waitress had forgotten to put the order in restaurant shorthand, causing her a whole lot more work. The second thing was that this order was no doubt from Sonic- the waitresses would have come to her to help seat more than four people. She shook the thought of cooking for Sonic with a flick of her hair; that orange hedgehog's advice from her drunken adventure last week would not be lost on her! "Okay, Bob, eyes on me."

* * *

About an hour since his marvelous escape from Amy, Sonic was relaxing in the diner, safely hidden by the tinted window. He listened carefully to each waitress' voice, trying to hear what's-her-face's among them. No luck, yet. Once his order had been taken, Sonic happened to glance down at himself and caught himself wondering why Amy would want to hang out with him anyway- he hadn't showered since she had started commandeering his schedule! Little pieces of tree bark and sap and glitter from Amy's making him carry her decorative shopping bags were all over him! Embarrassed, Sonic sneaked off to the men's room.

As Sonic washed up, he realized how little wall insulation there was between the men's room and the kitchen. He could hear everything going on in there, but more importantly he heard: "There. That, Bob, is how you make chilidogs. But if I have to come in and make them for you again, you'll be hearing from the manager, got it?"

Sonic recognized her voice from last week- that voice-haver! But wasn't she a waitress? Why wasn't she out doing the whole waitress thing? She had been helping another employee… Perhaps she'd been promoted in the last week. That wasn't entirely unheard of, and it made sense, since she had been working at Eiglestein's for the past three months. Perhaps she was supervisor, now. Sonic resigned to the fact that he wouldn't be meeting her today and headed back to his table to see if his chilidogs had been delivered.

* * *

Shadow's curiosity was getting the better of her. Like Pandora, she was just dying to open the box that no doubt contained nothing but pain. Sonic was out there in the restaurant, eating the chilidogs she'd made. She felt as though all life on Earth depended on her not looking through that office door and watching Sonic's reaction. She tried to focus on the guidance of the strangely familiar orange hedgehog that she'd met only last week. She paused, her hand on the doorknob. Who was that orange hedgehog, anyway? She'd never seen him before in all her time in the city, and on top of that, she had been drunk! He could have been a figment of her imagination and she'd have never known the difference! She would ask one of her co-workers about it, she supposed, opening the door before realizing what she was doing. Her line of sight jolted upward, and she saw him, face down on the table next to the plate of chilidogs; one missing.

"Oh my God," whispered Shadow to herself, "I've killed him."

* * *

Sonic might as well have died and gone to Heaven. He wanted to marry whoever made these chilidogs; that's how good he thought they were. He had eaten the first one in a rush, not realizing how much he would be missing. He sat up from his facedown position on the table, which he had fallen to in his flavor-shock, and carefully took another chilidog, looking it over in bizarre fascination. Maybe slower was better when it came to this; he might never have a plate of chilidogs like this again.


	7. Eiglestein's

Amy Rose stomped through the city, growling at anyone who smiled her way. All of her hard work in training Sonic and he'd escaped her! Amy had planned to smuggle him out of the city today, go somewhere where they could get a cheap marriage license and get him to sign it, then hopefully find a minister and go through with a real ceremony before letting Sonic realize what had happened, but he had to go and wake up early somehow! …Maybe he'd had help. The thought had never occurred to Amy before; Sonic might have an accomplice in the city, but when would he have had time to discuss plans with him? Amy considered leaving Sonic as she went into the hotel every night for the past week. Maybe when he was running home he might have had time to talk to someone. But who would be out so late?

Amy recalled a conversation she'd overheard in the hotel lobby one evening about Shadow. Sometimes Shadow would go out drinking late at night and walk around the city a bit before going home. That would give Sonic and Shadow a short time to talk before Sonic passed out for the night. Amy's eyes narrowed. No doubt Sonic was at that diner that Shadow worked at right now. Amy turned around and made a beeline toward the diner, her hammer at the ready. No-one took Sonic away from her.

* * *

Sonic sighed. He had finished his plate of chilidogs and now he realized that he had also managed to drip chili all over himself. He paid the bill and went back to the men's room to wash off again.

* * *

Amy entered Eiglestein's, scanning the clientele for Sonic. Not seeing him, she looked over the waitresses for Shadow. No luck there either. To her logic, since neither was here, they must be somewhere else, and together. Not the best of logic, but it justified her rage.

"Where is Sonic?" she demanded; the staff looking up in unison, surprised and dismayed by her presence.

* * *

Shadow's ears perked. She had shut the door and sat down at her desk after seeing Sonic down the rest of the plate of chilidogs. He had enjoyed them. It had made her day. Right now though, she heard the voice of their first banishment; Amy Rose having been ousted by Mr. Eiglestein himself only a week ago. Then she heard the scream.

Shadow dashed out of her office. Mabel, one of the waitresses, was on the floor, cowering in fear, cradling a broken arm.

"Where is Sonic?" came the order again, "Where are you hiding him?"

Shadow rushed to separate Amy and Mabel, grabbing the handle of Amy's hammer, right above where Amy held it, and holding it still. Amy struggled. "I know you're hiding him in here somewhere!"

Amy pulled away and Shadow motioned to the cashier. He pressed the under-counter alarm. As soon as Shadow looked down to tend to Mabel's health, Amy leapt at her, hammer swinging. The fight was on.

* * *

Sonic hadn't hear much over the sound of running water and orders being shouted through the kitchen, but he had heard someone screaming from the restaurant, and that immediately stole his attention from his own hygiene. The scene he entered upon when leaving the restroom was something he'd never had imagined in his wildest, most insane dreams.

Amy Rose and Shadow the Hedgehog were exchanging blows in the middle of a restaurant, everyone else attempting to sneak to the exit.

* * *

Shadow wasn't as fast as she used to be, but she could keep up with Amy in her sleep. Amy knew this; therefore, she was trying to be as unpredictable as possible, and was doing as well as could be expected against the out-of-form Ultimate Lifeform. Shadow hadn't actually hit her yet, but she was desperate to keep Shadow from getting any hits through.

* * *

Sonic was torn. Amy Rose, the girl who had been dragging him everywhere all week, keeping him awake, leaving him to walk the streets by himself; or Shadow, the hedgehog he barely knew now, who was most probably protecting the restaurant from Amy's wrath… While wearing a uniform identical to a waitress'… and a nametag that said "Shadow the Hedgehog, supervisor"…

* * *

Shadow was running low on stamina, and this struggle seemed to be an uphill battle as Amy was armed and Shadow was not. Disarming her seemed to be the only option, and it wasn't going easily.

Shadow took a hit to the shoulder, knocking her arm out of place. It hurt, but it wasn't the first thing on her mind. She stumbled back into a fighting position.

* * *

Amy had been surprised that she had gotten a hit in at all, but now that Shadow was injured, she figured this would be a piece of cake!

She would have to settle for a pudding cup.

* * *

Sonic took this opportunity to break it up. Sonic sped into the imaginary ring… and immediately got the rings knocked out of him by Amy's hammer; the ever-familiar continue screen presenting the countdown he could use to start all over again. Sonic had no control over the ticking clock. Before long he would be sent back to the main menu and…

Where had these thoughts come from? Sonic was slowly falling unconscious from the hit, his train of thought taking a path similar to Disney World's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Before he was entirely comatose, however, Sonic heard a voice over the whistle of his mental train:

* * *

"What have you done?" exclaimed Shadow, the patrons and employees having almost all escaped and Sonic the hedgehog lying cataleptic on the floor while Amy Rose inspected her damaged target and police cars pulled up outside.

Amy only smiled and took Sonic's hand, turning toward the door, intending to leave with him like this. Shadow would have none of it.

* * *

Amy hit pavement. Not hard enough to break anything, but enough to leave a couple of nasty scratches. She stood up to tend to them, but when both of her hands were in front of her, handcuffs were clicked on her wrists. She was reminded of her rights and pulled to the door of the police cruiser. What had gone wrong?

* * *

Shadow raised an eyebrow as she lifted Sonic up over her good shoulder and headed for the door. She smelled smoke. Hurrying out the door and setting Sonic down next to Mabel and the other waitresses to await the ambulance, she rushed back inside. Someone had left the oven on, and Mr. Eiglestein was still in the building.


	8. Fire in the Diner

Shadow bit her lip, hurrying through the kitchen to the manager's office. The old man was probably playing pocket golf on his handheld phone or taking a nap, while the fire from the oven was already spreading up the wall. Shadow opened the office door and was unsurprised to see Mr. Eiglestein taking a nap with his earbuds in. Shadow pulled his earbuds out, and though a somewhat painful breach of music etiquette, awoke Mr. E to get him out of the building.

"Oh, hey, Ms. Shadow. What's up?"

"Fire. Escaping. Now, preferably. What's up with you?" sighed Shadow, sarcastically, taking Mr. Eiglestein's hand and pulling him to the door.

* * *

Sonic slowly started coming around, surrounded by five humans in waitress uniforms who smiled, sympathetically. If he were human, Sonic might have attempted a "smooth recovery", or in other words, would have said "hey ladies" and passed out again. However, he was focused on something else.

"Everyone okay?" he asked, attempting to sit up, but was being held in place by a young man who insisted he stay still until the ambulance arrived. Sonic shrugged, rubbing his bruised forehead and trying to think. Nothin' doin'. But he did pass out again. That was progress.

* * *

Shadow hadn't known Mr. Eiglestein was a pyromaniac. It wasn't particularly useful information, but it did make getting the man out of the burning building much harder.

"I've been wanting to burn this place down for years! Thank God I have insurance! Who do you think left the oven on- was it Robert? I'm giving that kid a raise! Hoo-boy! Look at that! Who knew ham did that when it caught on fire?" Shadow had never known a crazier diner owner.

Smoke was filtering into the restaurant from the kitchen, making it hard to breathe. Why wasn't there a back door in this place?

* * *

Amy looked out the window of the police cruiser. Sonic was now surrounded by human women and even had a human man over there tending to him! What was the world coming to? As the ambulances arrived, Amy became aware of another presence in the back of the car. She could hear something breathing heavily over her shoulder as something large and wet dragged across her face.

* * *

Shadow and Mr. Eiglestein exited the front of the building, Mr. E having returned his earbuds to his ears. Shadow coughed a couple of times; handing Mr. E over to the paramedics as a couple of fire trucks drove up, too, blocking the street. Mabel and Sonic were already taken care of, so that was a burden off of Shadow's mind as she found herself slipping out of consciousness.

* * *

Officer Collins sat down in the driver's seat of his cruiser, turning around to see the girl he'd just arrested having fainted, due to the surprise of meeting his canine partner, Delta. Delta rather enjoyed the company of delinquents; after all, she didn't see much action in such a quiet city.


	9. You All Meet in the Hospital

He would have probably flown her there three months ago if he knew what she was going there for.

Rouge relaxed in the back seat of Tails' plane and stared out the window. The clouds were no more interesting than the files in her lap. Tails turned and smiled at her.

"We're preparing to land," he joked, "Please put your tray tables up and restore your seat back to the full upright position, thank you!"

Rouge sighed; Tails was almost as bad as Sonic when he wanted to be. Sometimes she wished he would be mister-tech-talk full-time.

Three months was a long time to resurface a runway, but when you had to outsource for most of your workers it made some sense. Rouge had hoped to get there before the regular shutdown of the small airport to complete her mission, but she figured there was some divine reason for the delay. After all, in those three months, she had done a favor for Tails, and he owed her this ride. Of course, if she could tell him her mission, he would have done it even before then, she was sure.

However, it was top secret, and "of the utmost importance that the information she held not be compromised or disclosed," as her boss put it, "to anyone but the predetermined recipient." That guy was all talk, to tell the truth. Even so, Rouge was worried about this mission.

"We have arrived! Hope you enjoyed flying the Tornado Express; buh-bye now, buh-bye."

Tails opened the hatch for Rouge and held her manila envelope as she climbed out, the white bat snatching it out of his hands once she was safely on the ground.

"Thanks, Tails. We're even, now, but if you want to come pick me up in a few days…"

Tails nodded, "A week good for you? I'm all booked up until then!"

Rouge gave him a wave and fluttered off the runway as he started up his little two-seater and took off. She felt guilty for not filling him in on her mission; after all, it did have to do with his sort-of brother, but orders were orders and Tails was known to be a bit of a blabbermouth at times. Rouge took out her cell phone and dialed up the nearest hotel, booking a room for the next few nights.

* * *

Shadow woke up, squinting in the light before closing her eyes again. How much had she had to drink last night? She felt lightheaded; dehydrated. No, she hadn't been out drinking; she'd been smoking- she remembered the diner fire and the fight beforehand. Biting her lower lip, Shadow opened her eyes again, this time getting them used to the light. She was in the hospital, and judging by the side table with a vase and bouquet, it was the one on Tenth by the flower shop, also known as "the granny hospital" because of the average age of the nurses. Made sense, as it was also the hospital closest to the diner.

Shadow pulled herself into a seated position, enduring the head rush and pain from her previous injury and scoped out the rest of the room. A small window across the way provided a nice view of the upper branches of an oak tree and a chair closer by provided an okay view of Mr. Eiglestein, snoring away with his earbuds in. Shadow sighed and inspected her shoulder, which had been hit in the fight. The doctor had already set her arm back in place and it was bruised, but otherwise healing. Shadow smiled. She had given Amy some hell and it was worth it.

The doctor walked in, smiled at Shadow and pulled up a chair.

"What's the diagnosis, Doctor Epperson?" joked Shadow, smirking a bit, "Will he live?"

Dr. Epperson glanced back at Mr. Eiglestein and chuckled.

"Oh, I'd say he's got a few more years on him… How do you feel?"

"Dehydrated, but other than that, fine. How about you?"

"Very talkative today, aren't we?" laughed Dr. Epperson, getting up again, "You're free to get up if you feel like it; your arm is healing up fine. The water fountains are just outside and visiting hours have begun if you want to see how your friend is doing."

Shadow nodded. "Oh, was her arm broken or just dislocated, like mine?"

The doctor paused on his way out the door, raising an eyebrow.

"…Mabel?" asked Shadow, "My waitress friend Mabel?"

"Oh, you were talking about Mabel… She was released a half-hour ago. It was broken, just a single fracture. She should be fine with a couple weeks of rest. I was talking about Sonic."

Shadow nodded; a little depressed. Sonic had received head trauma a la Amy Rose in the fight and passed out cold. Dr. Epperson left and Shadow stood up to go, shaking off another dizzy spell and exiting the room, leaving Mr. Eiglestein to be woken up by an elderly nurse and proceed to fall in love with her another hour later, but that's a different story.

A nurse directed Shadow to Sonic's room, but Shadow could not convince herself to enter. She stood outside, staring through the small window in the door at Sonic, who was unconscious on the bed. She stood there for several minutes, her hand poised to touch the doorknob, looking in as Sonic rolled over, scratched at his ear, shrugged off the covers, pulled up the covers, and snored loud enough to wake the dead. And she left.

* * *

Rouge watched in fear.

She had been told Sonic was in the hospital on Tenth Street and she wasn't at all happy to hear so. Seeing Shadow here at his door confirmed her worries; no doubt he was the one who put Sonic here. Rouge hurried into the room, not realizing how quickly she had shut the door until she heard an exclamation from the bed.

* * *

"Wha! Whuh? Rouge?" Sonic sat up quickly, his mouth getting ahead of the rest of him before: "Ooohh…" he leaned forward, holding his head in his hands, reeling from the biggest dehydration-caused headache he'd ever had. He shook his head to get his brain working properly again and turned to Rouge.

"Oh, hey Rouge. Out here on vacay with Knuckles?" asked Sonic, suggestively raising an eyebrow over half-lidded eyes.

"Don't you wish." responded Rouge, rolling her eyes.

"Don't I wish I was out on vacation with Knuckles? No thanks! We're pals, and that's it."

"Sonic, this isn't about Knuckles!" Rouge exclaimed. She seemed steamed, so Sonic decided to actually listen.

"Sonic, you're in danger."

* * *

Sonic raised his eyebrows and glanced around the room.

"Is she here already? I didn't see her come in! Omigod, is she hiding?"

"…She who?"

"Amy! …The one who put me here in the hospital in the first place? …Pink hair? Carries a deadly weapon with no license? …Pink hair?"

Rouge frowned. "I'm not talking about Amy…" then she raised an eyebrow. "She put you here?"

"Conked me on the head with her Hammer of Death and KO'd me. Doc says I'm on bedrest until I can touch my chin to my chest again. Ow! Crap!"

Rouge covered her eyes with the palm of her hand and shook her head as Sonic attempted to perform this random action. Then an odd thought occurred to her.

"I thought Amy liked you, Sonic. Why would she hit you?"

* * *

"I, uh, kinda got in the way of her hammer while she was trying to hit Shadow. I dunno. Why?"

"Shadow? You've seen Shadow recently? Like, within the past three months?"

"Like, a few hours ago, like." Imitated Sonic. He could tell he was grating on Rouge's nerves and he liked it.

He considered it playing hard-to-get when she feigned relaxation and pulled up a chair, sitting back and crossing her legs.

"So what happened a few hours ago?"

"Well, I had just escaped from Amy and went to Eiglestein's diner for lunch. While I was in the restroom, a fight broke out between Amy and Shadow, who I guess works there or something, and…"

* * *

Rouge narrowed her eyebrows as Sonic put a hand to his head, as if suddenly remembering something distant.

"…Sonic?"

Sonic sat back up; a stunned look on his face.

"Sorry, Rouge. Anyway, Shadow took a hit and then I jumped in, of course, getting hit myself."

"Hate to say it, Sonic," sighed Rouge, leaning an elbow on the arm of the chair, resting her chin against her knuckles, "but you're kind of stupid for doing that."

Sonic copied her again.

"That's funny, I thought you liked guys like that," he taunted, getting Rouge somewhat ticked.

"That's what I get for trying to protect you, I guess," she grumbled, getting Sonic's no-foolin'-attention expression.

"Tryin' to protect me? From what? I mean, why would you…? Ugh."

Rouge sighed.

"Trying to protect you from Shadow."


	10. Rouge and her Tale of Woe

Rouge had known Shadow a long time, but when she heard about him attacking Sonic with no provocation outside of Apotos one night, she was scared. She heard that Sonic had been put into a coma that lasted for about a week, and that Shadow had been locked away in an insane asylum. Rouge thought that it might have been a little harsh, but when she went to visit Shadow, she happened to witness quite a fit from him. She just happened to mention Sonic's name and Shadow was all over her: "Sonic? Did you see him? Is he alive? Please tell me he's alive! Oh God, he's dead, isn't he? Where did they take him?"

And then the orderlies carted him off to a back room where Rouge didn't know nor care what they did with him.

Now that Shadow was out of the cage, she couldn't know what he was up to, though his file stated that he had frequented a particular webpage that regularly updated with "Sonic Sightings," which pretty much followed along the lines of "Spagonia- Ran through headed West," and so on and so forth. Recently, the most often Sighting description was "Nexus City- Ran through headed East."

The only things East of Nexus City were the Westwood Wildlife Sanctuary, Redwoods National Park and Redwood Park City. When Shadow was seen getting on a tour bus headed toward Redwood Park, Rouge was assigned to warn Sonic of the danger.

Shadow might just be out to finish the job.

* * *

Rouge explained all this to Sonic, who sat in awe, taking it all in. Shadow? Out to kill him? Only moments ago, Sonic remembered hearing Shadow's voice and recognizing how much it sounded like the woman he'd walked home with that night; the waitress-who-might-have-been-promoted-to-supervisor.

'Some-odd years ago, I beat up this guy. Was an accident; put him in a coma…'

Their stories seemed to match up, too… Wait, why was he remembering her drunken slur in perfect English?

* * *

Rouge cleared her throat, breaking Sonic out of his spaced-out stare at the bedcovers.

"So, I was only told to give you the heads up, so if you see Shadow, do what you do best, alright?"

"Wait!" Sonic called as she stood up, putting her chair away, "You don't have the whole story!"

Rouge pulled her chair back, giving Sonic a half glare.

"How long's this going to take, Sonic? I've got other things to do today."

She actually didn't, but hey, they were only paying her per mission, not per hour. Sonic seemed to be in a rush to get his thoughts together.

"Shadow didn't attack me, I was just running by and got in the way of something he was doing; he just- kinda- accidentally knocked the snot outta me. And just the other night, Shadow and I ran into each other, and I didn't know it was him, and I guess he didn't know it was me because we started talking like we didn't know each other, but that was because I can't see in the dark very well and he was kind of- well- I guess maybe he can't see in the dark either- I mean, he said he thought it was an accident, too, and he felt guilty about it and that he'd been… um. Looking for me? I mean, I guess he didn't know it was me, otherwise he wouldn't have-"

"But what if he did know it was you, Sonic?" Rouge had put up with this whole story, but the ultimate lifeform? Mr. Stealth? Unable to see in the dark? Not likely.

"Do you think Shadow planned to tell you that story? Maybe he wants you to be able to put up a fight, did you ever think of that?"

"I don't know what Shadow was thinking then. He was drunk at the time."

Rouge gave Sonic a look.

"He was drunk at the time. Really."

"Seriously, like once a week he goes out on the town! Just- hangin' out I guess. Havin' some beer with the guys."

Before Rouge could glare at Sonic some more, a doctor entered the room. She gave Sonic a visual once-over.

"Sonic, if you can walk to the door, you're free to go. I don't know what all the fuss was about anyways; your head's as hard as a rock!" The doctor laughed at her joke and turned to Rouge.

"Visiting Time's wrapping up, by the way. Might want to- y'know."

* * *

Rouge nodded and the two turned back to Sonic-

"SWEET FREEDOM!"

-who was actually already out the door, up the hall, down the stairs and about to crash into Shadow who was filling out paperwork at the reception desk.

* * *

Shadow frowned. Just for getting her shoulder dislocated, she had to fill out about fifty pages of release forms and waivers and bills and…well, you get the picture. She leaned forward a bit to make sure her emptying pen was actually putting her signature on the page when something akin to a train hit her, smacking her head into the desk and throwing her into a couple of nearby chairs. Her eyes watered from the shock and pain as an oddly familiar hedgehog turned to her and helped her up.

"Oh, man! Are you okay?"

"Fiddy pages …in lyblu ink."

And Shadow passed out for the second time that day.


	11. Panto Phailure

Again, Shadow woke up in a hospital bed. Though the room was dark, Shadow could see it was the same one as before. A vase of flowers nearby. A window with a tree-tastic view. Mr. Eiglestein sitting in a- oh wait. No, no Mr. Eiglestein. Just an empty chair. Shadow looked down. The sling was now on the other arm. Great. Shadow settled back to wait out the night when a sound from the window caught her ear. A rustling of leaves. Shadow got up again and flipped on the lights, tiredly stumbled toward the window, flopped down in the nearest chair and looked out at the branches.

It was an understatement to say she was surprised when Sonic fell from a higher branch to land on the one right outside.

* * *

Sonic had been having a bad day. It had a good start; avoiding Amy, plus getting some actual sleep, plus going to his favorite diner, plus getting the best chilidogs in his life, minus a diner fight, minus some head trauma, minus Rouge telling him that Shadow was actually in town to kill him, minus knocking out said Shadow, and finally now- trying to find Shadow's room and nearly falling out of a tree in the dark. But it wasn't dark anymore…

When he had accidentally KO'd Shadow, he followed the doctors to the room where they had put her for the night. He noticed it had a tree out the window and decided to climb it in order to "visit" Shadow outside of visiting hours. Unfortunately he had lost track of time when he was unconscious earlier and when he was about twenty feet up, it got dark outside. While trying to pick his way out of the tree, he missed a step and fell down a couple of levels of tree branches, landing face-first on one he could actually see.

Sonic straddled the branch he had landed on and sat up; looking at the fluorescently-lit window that had sort-of saved his life and noticing the ruffled sheets of the bed on the far side of the room, the vase with the bunch of flowers. This was Shadow's room! He had found it! He almost celebrated, but he quickly realized the lights were on and bed was empty. Where was the occupant of the room?

* * *

Shadow caught her breath, one hand over her chest; the other in a sling. She leaned against the wall right next to the window, slowly leaning away, trying to convince herself to look out the window- just to make sure she wasn't having some freaky kind of dream or something. She slowly peered around the edge of the window, out into the tree. Sonic was still there. He waved at her. Shadow cautiously waved back. Sonic pointed at his wrist. She shrugged, exaggeratedly.

"We're having a real conversation," muttered Shadow, to no-one in particular. "The first one in years."

Then Sonic began pantomiming things Shadow couldn't understand.

I…ear pull … shoe. No- no wait, socks! No, legs? Ear pull legs tree branch. Starting over? Eating? Eating shiver barking-like-a-dog... Um. Tail wag.

This was going nowhere, fast. Shadow looked around for something to write on and noticed a clipboard on the inside of the door with a pen attached to it by a string. That would work.

* * *

Apparently Shadow wasn't into charades. He left the window and came back with a clipboard, holding it up to the window after taking a moment to write on it.

"WTF."

Very subtle.

Shadow turned to the next page and wrote some more.

"I'M SORRY."

He was writing fairly big. Did he think Sonic was blind or something? Oh, wait.

"FOR 4YEARS AGO."

That one was kind of squished onto the page. Sonic frowned. It wasn't Shadow's fault. Sonic shook his head and pointed at his chest before touching his cheek near his eye and tracing a line down to his chin. He held up four fingers and wasn't entirely sure how to pantomime years, so he pointed to his wrist again.  
No, I'm sorry for four years ago.

* * *

Shadow read this as "No. I cried for a long time."

"I'LL MAKEIT UPTO YOU."

"SOMEHOW."

* * *

Sonic pointed at Shadow, made a hand motion for "no," drew a shape in the air and karate-chopped through it, put up two fingers, made a wide gesture, unable to think of a way to sign "do that," put up four fingers and pointed to himself.  
You don't have to do that for me.

* * *

"You can't. Karate-chopping-circle to the world for me."

Shadow wasn't happy that Sonic wasn't accepting his apology, but she was also irritated with the weird pantomiming.

"ISTHERE ANYTHING"

"I CANDO???"

* * *

Shadow seemed distressed, his eyebrows twisted upwards, his shoulders shook. Sonic made the "no" motion again and drew the tear on his cheek again.  
Don't cry.

* * *

"No. I cried."

* * *

Shadow got worse. She started writing something on the page, much smaller than before, her pen scratching across the page with emotion in every line. This was bad. Did Shadow take it the wrong way? Maybe he thought Sonic was insulting him, saying he was a crybaby or something? This was bad. This was bad.

Shadow threw the clipboard against the window and disappeared out of the angle of view the window provided.

"JUSTBECAUSE YOUCRIED DOESN'TMEAN ANYONE THINKSANY LESSOFYOU. AREYOU THATSHALLOW? WHYARE YOU EVENHERE TRYING TO TALKTO ME IF YOU ARE ONLY GOINGTO MAKEME FEEL BAD? DOYOU WANTTO SEEME CRY? YOUWANT REVENGE? IWON'T LETYOU. Iwontletyou."

This required drastic measures. Sonic shuffled forward as much as the bending bough would allow and knocked on the window as loud as he could.

* * *

Poink! Poink! Poink!

Shadow shook her head. She was as curled up as she could get, sitting on the floor near the window, crying her eyes out. No. She wouldn't give him what he wanted. No. No.

Poink! Poink! Poink! Poink!

Never. He had hurt her enough. Enough for one night. Enough for one lifetime. First thing in the morning she would buy a plane ticket and get the heck out of this town. Find somewhere else to live. Somewhere with fewer jerks.

Poink! Poink! KURRRAACCK!

Shadow jumped up and looked out the window. Their eyes met. Sonic's pupils had been mere pinpoints in his green irises, surrounded by dinner-plate-sized sclera, but Shadow saw them dilate a bit as Sonic signed one last phrase.

* * *

He pointed at himself. He drew a heart-shape on the window. He pointed at Shadow.  
I love you.

* * *

"I love you."

Shadow's eyes had been wide with fear, but as she and Sonic mirrored each other, each putting a hand to the glass, they softened in understanding.

They grew wide again as Sonic dropped out of sight, taking the whole tree branch with him. Shadow screamed.

Why did the hospital have to have plate-glass windows?


	12. History Repeats Itself?

If Sonic had been able to see the ground, he would have been able to brace himself for impact.

But he couldn't, so he didn't. He didn't even really have an idea how high up he was. So as he curled up to take the hit, he hit, half-curled, unprepared. He didn't even bounce. The tree limb, which, having greater air resistance, landed soon after, did bounce, and although the initial impact avoided Sonic, the secondary landing pinned the blue hedgehog under the main branch and several layers of twigs and leaves.

Sonic lay on his back, looking up at the windows he'd passed on the way down as the lights came on inside. He'd fallen four stories, and though his head had been cushioned by his quills, the rest of his body wasn't so lucky. At least he had had a handful of rings with him when he'd made impact. The only problem now was the branch across his chest pinning both his arms and restricting his respiration. Speaking of which, his brain was lacking in oxygen at the moment and things were starting to get fuzzy…

* * *

Why the hell was the door locked? Shadow tugged at the handle again, trying to figure a way to get out of the room and down to the ground floor as fast as possible. Chaos Control? The thought had occurred to Shadow twice now, but this time she actually considered it. Shadow didn't have a Chaos Emerald with her, but she remembered earlier today at 4:30pm; she had been down in the lobby signing papers. If she could teleport to then, maybe she had a chance.

"Chaos Control!"

Chaos Control without a Chaos Emerald is difficult.

Chaos Control while tired, injured, distressed, overweight, AND without a Chaos Emerald is another thing entirely.

In other words, Shadow felt sick to all of her stomachs as she landed a minute early outside the elevator. She was determined to hold on to her breakfast as she made her way around the hospital's inner loop to reach the doors to the courtyard; the location of the oak tree around which the hospital was built; where Sonic had no doubt landed. Finding the glass doors locked, Shadow picked up a nearby chair and proceeded to do a couple hundred thousand rings worth of damage to make her way through.

Shadow circled the branch, realizing that it was not only Sonic's weight to cause the failure of the branch, but also the fact that it was rotten through; putting the state of the rest of the tree into question, before Shadow recognized that Sonic had not landed independently of the bough. Shadow kneeled down and started digging through the rubbery, pointed leaves and finally found him, unconscious, pinned by the piece of unrefined lumber across his chest.

Removing her sling, Shadow tucked her hands under the branch and stood up, lifting the thing enough to slide Sonic out of the spot with one of her legs. Once Sonic was completely free of the branch, she dropped it; giving her full attention to the unconscious blue hedgehog, making sure he was still breathing.

* * *

Rouge sat up in bed and looked out the closest window as several police cruisers drove by, sirens blaring, headed toward the hospital on Tenth Street.  
Rouge got dressed.

* * *

"Sonic! Wake up! Come on!"  
Shadow shook Sonic's shoulders. Though he was breathing fine, Sonic was still unconscious, and this was a very bad position for the both of them. Every light in the hospital was on by now. People crowded every ground floor window. Guards and police officers were picking their way through the broken glass.

History was about to repeat itself.

In a last-ditch effort, Shadow removed her right-hand glove.

A guard had managed to get through the glass and was now yelling at Shadow as he stepped over the tree branch.

Shadow steadied Sonic's head a moment before rearing back and giving Sonic a backhand across the muzzle.  
THAT got him moving.

* * *

Sonic was awake. He wasn't sure how or why, but he was awake. He was also arm-wrestling a guard for his tazer. And now he and Shadow were surrounded. And now everything was dark, save for the moon in the sky. And now they were wanted men.


	13. Hospital Escape

Sonic's brain finally caught up with the situation at hand as he heard the sound of someone vomiting. The air was still and cool and the nearby smell of pine trees combined with the closer smell of concrete and metal. They were still in the city. Shadow must have used Chaos control to get them out of the hospital, and far enough away from the white lights of the hospital that Sonic could no longer see.

"Shadow? Shadow, you there?"

"Present," groaned the oddly feminine voice of Shadow the Hedgehog, from the same direction as the vomiting.

* * *

Sonic hurried out of the street and reached out to try and touch Shadow, hitting him in the shoulder.

"Ow," stated Shadow, pulling away from Sonic for a moment while trying to return last Thursday's lunch to its proper location. She failed; instead depositing it into the trash can in front of her. Stomach #6 – Empty.

"Sorry, dude," Sonic apologized, gently patting Shadow on the back.

"You okay?" grunted Shadow, her seventh and final stomach also threatening to spill its contents, "You fell a long way."

* * *

Sonic shrugged. "I just happened to grab some rings before I tried to come visit you. I'm fine."

A long pause. Some more puking. Sonic decided that, although it was hilarious how long Shadow had been throwing up, he should be sympathetic; after all, Shadow had saved his life. Having taken a moment to catch his breath, Shadow spoke again, showing that now he had the hiccups like Sonic had never heard before.

"You came- -to visit me? You were in that tree- -in the first place- -to talk to me- -on purpose?"

Shadow continued to hover over the trash can, just in case.

"Of course! I just, kind of, overshot your room. And then it got dark."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "You scared of the dark or something?" she asked, turning around and coming face-to-face with the orange hedgehog she had walked home last week; the one that had knocked her out in the hospital lobby; the one that she had often thought about but never followed up on.

"Nah," the orange hedgehog replied in Sonic's voice. "I just can't see very well in the dark. Or at all in the dark, actually."

"You!" whispered Shadow, her digestive system rebelling again.

"Me, what?" asked Sherbet-Sonic, reaching forward to try and touch Shadow again. "Are you okay, Shadow?"

"You're ORANGE!" exclaimed Shadow, taking Sonic's outstretched hand and following his arm up to his face, pinching his cheeks and pulling his ears. "Did I get mind-blowingly drunk within the past ten minutes or am I hallucinating?"

Sonic laughed. "It's probably just the city lights. They're orange- to keep from bothering the wildlife. I can't see it, but I guess you can!"

Shadow stopped abusing Sonic's face and started laughing.

* * *

Sonic's ears perked once Shadow let go of them. He could hear police sirens in the distance moving away from the hospital and towards them. What had tipped them off?

* * *

Rouge touched down atop a building within view of Sonic and Shadow's location. She was right. They were already on the other side of the city and the police cruisers were following her directions to the letter. Sonic and Shadow were surrounded.

* * *

"Heads up, Shadow;" warned Sonic as Shadow's laughing fit subsided. "We've got company."

"What? Where?" sighed a dazed and oxygen-deprived Shadow, looking around a bit.

She had been able to get them about where the bike path connected to the main road, where she had taken Sonic last week when she had escorted him home.

"Police sirens. You hear them? I think we're surrounded."

Shadow took Sonic's hand. "The police don't have bicycles, do they?"

Sonic shook his head in thought. "I didn't think they did… Whoa!"

Shadow started running, dragging Sonic along as they headed up the dirt trail between the trees of the Redwoods National Park, the sirens growing in volume behind them before fading away into the hooting of owls and chirping of crickets.

They had escaped.


	14. Redwoods National Park

Sonic opened his eyes to the patchy canopy of the coniferous woods to the North of Redwood Park. Birdsong was the first thing he heard; accompanied by squirrelchatter and bikewheelfuzz. He sat up, taking in the sundrenched forest floor; considering it a work of art, a masterpiece. It was moments like this he was glad that the city had stayed where it was, not bringing with it the behemoth of suburbia to replace this beautiful scene with a more contemporary design. He wasn't one for contemporary art. Had the word "temporary" in it, anyways…

Sonic's mental wandering was cut short by a sound, which caught him by surprise and caused him to scoot backwards into the nearest tree. A deep, low growl. It echoed slightly, as if distant, but to Sonic it sounded quite close by. Was it a bear? Sonic had taken on bears before. None of them sounded like this. Mountain lion? No, they had more of a yowl-slash-meow kind of call. Wolf? Now that was a possibility, but they didn't normally come this far South in the early fall. The sound came again. This time it was more of a roar than a growl, but it quickly faded into a growl before fading out entirely, echoing again. Sonic was awake now. And where was Shadow?

Standing up against the tree trunk, Sonic looked around; he still heard birds and squirrels, and a deer was crunching through the leaves about twenty yards ahead. They hadn't heard the growling; how had Sonic? Had Shadow heard it? There it was again. The growl-roar. It was very, very close by. Sonic's quills rose. It was right behind him. He leaned around. Slowly. Very slowly. Well, he kind of inched around, except it was more like millimeters in more of an even fashion than "inched" suggests. He didn't see any bears, or wildcats, or wolves.

Shadow slept soundly on the other side of the tree; his uniform's apron bunched up under his head as a pillow. Curious, Sonic leaned in closer, just in time to catch the sound for the fourth time, and realized that it was coming from Shadow. It was his stomach; no doubt completely empty from last night's fiasco with the law. Sonic smiled. And laughed. And laughed some more.

* * *

Shadow woke up. The pleasant chiming of her cell phone alarm clock was absent, and in its place was the strangest sound she'd ever heard. It was sort of a chuckle, but that was only the base of it; piled on top of that was the sound of hyperventilation, wheezing, and quite possibly choking. Shadow sat up and shook her head, taking a moment to clear it of the sleep that remained, and turned to the source of the din. She found Sonic the Hedgehog; red-faced and teary-eyed, apparently having an asthma attack combined with a seizure and heart palpitations. Shadow, confused, irritated, groggy and taken aback, stood up and tried to get something other than breathless giggling out of the now-purple hedgehog.

"Sonic? Come on, snap out of it! You're scaring me, here! Quit laughing!"

Sonic leaned against the tree and tried to catch his breath.

"_Okay,_ okay. I'm okay. _You just_-!" exclaimed Sonic, starting up again.

"Sonic," warned Shadow, crossing her arms.

"Okay. I'm done. Really."

"Good," said Shadow. "Now, what was so funny, anyways?"

Sonic thought a moment. "Well, it started as this sort of growling? But then it became more of a roar than a growl, but it quickly faded into a growl before-"

Shadow's abdomen interrupted with the combined complaint of all seven empty stomachs. Sonic snorted again, his muzzle and ears quickly turning red as his hilarity resurfaced with a vengeance.

"What? You think this is funny?" questioned Shadow, uncrossing her arms and clenching her fists at her sides.

Unable to get a response other than Sonic's laughter, she crossed her arms and turned away.

"I was so-!" exclaimed Sonic, interrupted by his own mirth, "I was so sca-_hared_!"

This caught Shadow's attention. "You were scared?"

"_Whoo!_" breathed Sonic, coming down from his adrenaline high and actually paying attention to the situation.

"_Yeah,_ I was scared! I didn't know what was makin' that noise, and I was startin' to freak out! Then I look and it's- _it's your stomach_!"

Shadow's arms dropped back to her sides, a lopsided smile on her face as Sonic's raucous laughter began again. Okay, that was pretty funny, actually. She could let this one slide. She snickered a bit, herself.

"Haah," Sonic sighed, putting an arm over Shadow's shoulders. "I love you, man."

* * *

Sonic immediately reclaimed his arm as Shadow made a high-pitched gasping sound.

"Was it something I said?" asked Sonic, his hands curled into his chest like a begging puppy, worry etched upon his features.

Shadow stretched a bit, turning back to Sonic; a solemn expression on her face.

"Look, Sonic. I'm all banged up from yesterday, I'm just now barely recharging on Chaos Energy, I'm starving, and I don't have any rings on me. It wasn't something you said."

"Dang," responded Sonic, completely lacking in the complaint department, "I'm, sadly, totally fine."

He thought a moment, watching Shadow shake the dead leaves off of his apron.

"Wanna go get some breakfast with me?" he asked, casually, shrugging a bit.

"That would be nice, Sonic, but, as of last night, we are 'on the lam,' as the saying goes. We caused some damage back at the hospital- well, I caused some damage- and if we go back into town now we'd be returning to the scene of the crime. Besides, I told you, I'm out of rings right now."

"Who said you were gonna pay?" replied Sonic, cautiously putting his arm around Shadow, a little lower to avoid his damaged shoulders. "Hey, why are you putting that thing back on?"

Shadow put his apron back on, pulling off the nametag and hiding it in the chest pocket.

"It has pockets," replied Shadow, taking a step out of Sonic's reach before handing Sonic the ties that were supposed to go around back above his tail.

"Could you tie this, please? I don't think my shoulders are in good enough shape to reach back there, yet."

Sonic took the ties as Shadow turned around, making a bit of a bow in the back.

"That's a pretty big bow," commented Sonic. "Did I do it right?"

"Oh, that's right," recalled Shadow, twisting his head to look back. "The supervisor's apron is a little bigger. The line is supposed to loop around my waist first."

Sonic untied the bow and leaned forward, an end of the tie in each hand. Shadow raised her arms a bit as Sonic brought the ties around to the front to switch hands.

"This is… kinda' close…" Sonic observed, switching ties in front of Shadow; noticing that there was a little more in the front on Shadow than he remembered.

Sonic's muzzle turned bright red again as he pulled back, lines successfully switched, and hurriedly tied the knot. The arteries in his face were sure getting a workout today.

"We should… probably get moving. It'll be awhile before we can get to the next town with a restaurant, and-."

Shadow turned back around to face Sonic, raising an eyebrow at Sonic's redness.

"We might not have to. Do you have a Chaos Emerald?"

Sonic thought. "Not with me. But I stashed one around here somewhere! I remember now!"

Shadow smiled. "I can work with that."


	15. The Slightly Immoral Wild

They walked. Sonic was in the lead, zigzagging his way through the rocky landscape, Shadow following in, more or less, a straight line. While Sonic was completely on-task, Shadow's mind was wandering, or more accurately, circling one topic.

Sonic's hesitation while tying her apron. 'This is…kinda' close…'

Had Sonic not noticed her weight gain until then? She kicked at a rock, noticing how her black shoes were now mud-spattered to match her dark navy jeans. She had changed in the past few years. For one thing, she found out she was a she. That is, Shadow found out she was female.

Early in life, Shadow had had regular exposure to "Chaos Drives," small tubes with shards of artificial versions of the Chaos Emeralds in them. They were used as replacements for the real Chaos Emeralds, but because Shadow was designed to handle the Emeralds and only the Emeralds with genetics from the alien race that had brought the gems to Earth in the first place, Shadow was not using the Drives how his creators intended. Her body accepted the Drives' radiation as testosterone, hindering her natural hormones and making her seem more masculine; her Chaos Energy abilities were extremely limited because of this, and due to the fact that Shadow was simply not working at full potential did GUN decide to shut ARK down as well as every project aboard.

Wouldn't have happened if somebody had gotten hold of a Chaos Emerald fifty years ago and simply sent it up to the ARK…

'Would have, Could have, Should have,' thought Shadow, thinking back on her limited knowledge of cliché phrases that might apply to the situation.

'Everything happens for a raisin. Wait…'

As Shadow continued her mental spiral outward from her original topic, she shook her head and looked around. Sonic was gone. No doubt was he still looking for where he had left the Chaos Emerald. Shadow, now hopelessly lost, sat down on a rock and decided to wait it out.

Her stomachs growled.

"Screw it," said Shadow, spotting a deer down the ravine a short distance ahead of her. It didn't look too fast…

* * *

Sonic was nowhere near on-task today. His ears practically glowing red, Sonic darted back and forth across the lumpy land. Trying to remember where the heck he'd left that Chaos Emerald and trying to figure out why the heck he had hesitated while tying Shadow's apron. Why the heck was Shadow wearing an apron in the first place? Was Mr. Eiglestein gay or just cruel?

Sonic shook his head. Mr. Eiglestein didn't strike him as either; he seemed more of the sexy-nurse type than the sexy-maid type…

"UGH!" exclaimed Sonic, mentally adding: 'why am I even thinking about this!'

Of course, getting off the subject as he was, he didn't really notice until he walked right into a tree branch that he had no idea where he was, where he was going, or where Shadow had gotten off to. Speaking of which…

"Shadow?" called Sonic, starting to get worried. "Shadow!"

Sonic shook his head. Why was he worried? Shadow could take care of himself! Hungry. And alone. Out in the woods. Never having wrestled a bear before.

"Forget it," said Sonic, glancing around for a tree taller than the one he had whacked his head on before he started climbing. A better view never hurt.

* * *

Shadow couldn't do it. She'd just happened to knock the deer over into a small bed of ivy and as it looked up at her, hideous as deer really are up close, she couldn't bring herself to put it out of its misery. Mostly because not only did it really not have any misery, more like mild annoyance, but she didn't have any weapons, so there was no way for her to kill it without it taking a really, really long time.

However those plants were starting to look… Hell, everything started to look edible!

Shadow bit her lip as the deer got up and went on its merry way. She would have to wait a long while for her stomachs to actually shut up should she eat anyway. It would take at least a week for anything eaten now to get down to her seventh stomach, and if left empty until then it might just digest itself. And that's no good no matter what species you are. And of course, Shadow would have to be totally empty in order to use the Chaos Energy shortcut she'd discovered that she'd been using naturally before she'd ever actually eaten anything in the first place.

Shadow sighed. Without Sonic, she might never get her hands on the Chaos Emerald he'd hidden. She might starve to death. People would find her body someday and wonder what the hell she was. All these thoughts were rather depressing, but Shadow's next thought made her actually worry.

Sonic might be scared, out there all alone. He had admitted to being afraid earlier, when unable to identify the sound of Shadow's stomachs and mistaking it for the sound of an angry wild animal. What if he'd run into an actual angry wild animal? Shadow didn't know what to do.

* * *

Sonic stared dumbly into the knothole in the tree. There it was; the Chaos Emerald he'd hidden who-knows-how-long before. Reaching in and plucking it out, he climbed a little higher and looked around, continuing his original plan: to seek Shadow from a bird's-eye view.

There he was; standing around in the nearby ravine. Doin' nothin'. Sonic sighed and climbed back down. He'd gotten all worked up over nothing.

* * *

Shadow looked down at the plants she was standing in. What were they, anyhow? Three leaves. Ground cover. A few flowers here and there. Nothing spectacular. Then she noticed that the vines of the plant were starting to scoot up over the edges of her shoes.

She shrugged and started to walk. No hurry.

Wrong. The vines started moving faster. Like a living net, the tiny strings wove together and made a tiny leap for Shadow's leg.

She started to run. A little bit of a hurry but still no-

"Crap crap crap crap crap…"

They were trying to trip her now, no longer chasing but thinking ahead, building tiny walls to try and stop her. How to get out of this oversized ditch?

* * *

Sonic knew something was wrong when he stood at the top of the chasm and watched Shadow try to outrun the wind's waves in the grass. At first he thought it was some kind of metaphor, Shadow trying to outrun the wind and all, but there was something unsettling about it…

He'd been living in Redwood Park too long.

Dashing along the edge of the canyon, Sonic called to Shadow, the aforementioned hedgehog looking up a moment before tripping and falling flat on his face. Not what Sonic was trying to do…

* * *

Shadow was exhausted. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't feel. Grass stains that would last forever. Getting eaten by plants. Worst Day in History.

* * *

Sonic had jumped into the pit and was already sprinting to Shadow, who was gradually being covered by vines. Sonic slid to a stop on the smooth leaves and tucked the Chaos Emerald into Shadow's hand, purposefully elbowing Shadow in the shoulder. They were gone in a flash.


	16. Temporary Vengeance

Rouge sat on the tree branch hanging over the bike path halfway between the city edge and the Redwoods Lodge. She was exhausted; having searched for the two supersonic hedgehogs across most of the forest all morning. She hopped down to the bike path and headed east, tiredly following shoeprints she only barely recognized as Sonic's and allowed her mind to wander.

It didn't get far; within moments, Sonic and Shadow were practically on top of her, having appeared out of thin air and crashed to the ground nearby. Rouge leapt into a tree, barely escaping discovery.

* * *

Sonic and Shadow shook off the shock of Chaos Control; Sonic had found a rock to lean against as Shadow stumbled up, tapped him on the shoulder, and sucker-punched him in the face when he turned around. Sonic crashed to the ground, his eyes tearing up and temporarily blinding him as he forgot what to do in case of a nosebleed, which he also had.

Sonic's head spun, he sat up and tilted his head forward, trying to clean himself up. It wasn't working so well.

* * *

Shadow had gotten her temporary vengeance, but she was already regretting the punch. Sonic was sitting on the ground, rubbing his eyes and trying not to choke on his own blood. No, she couldn't show him sympathy; it was already too late for that…

Sonic made a sort of sobbing sound as he gasped for air, coughing out some more blood that had drained down his throat.

Okay, maybe a little sympathy. Shadow dropped the Chaos Emerald into one of her apron pockets and took a few napkins out of another, kneeling down and holding the napkins in front of Sonic's face.

"Sonic? Are you okay?" asked Shadow, getting no response. "Sonic. Hello? Can you hear me?"

* * *

Sonic's ears were ringing. Everything just buzzed as he scrubbed out the last of the tears. He felt something on his face as his hearing faded back in and the clouds in his vision disappeared, revealing that Shadow was wiping Sonic's face clear of bodily fluids with a paper napkin.  
He didn't appreciate it; instead reacting with embarrassment, causing the blood from his blushing muzzle to flow out his nose.

"Hey! Don't baby me- back off!" Sonic exclaimed, scooting backward to escape the situation. He bumped into a tree and could move no farther.

"Stop it Sonic! You're getting blood everywhere- I didn't even hit you that hard!"

* * *

Sonic pouted as Shadow held him against the tree with one arm while still cleaning up his muzzle. Once the job was done, she handed Sonic a clean napkin.

"Blow your nose. And relax, won't you? Sheesh. Acting like I hit you with a crowbar…"

Sonic sighed, blowing his nose and making sure it was clear before turning back to Shadow.

"I'm sorry I got you where I knew you were hurt, okay?" apologized Sonic, sounding rather childish to Shadow, "But it got us out of the vines that much faster, didn't it?"

"No buts," replied Shadow, crossing her arms. "And the ends don't always justify the means, you know. I mean, what would those plants have done to me, anyways? They were plants!"

"It was kudzu, Shadow. Mutant kudzu, in fact;" interrupted Sonic. "Released into Redwoods by accident about ten years ago. Likes to cover stuff. And I mean _cover_ stuff. In seconds you wouldn't have been able to breathe! I saved your life!"

"Saved my life?" asked Shadow, incredulously. She paused. "Saved my life..."

* * *

Sonic looked up as Shadow tried to sort out his conundrum. The sky was starting to get cloudy and the air smelled like rain.

"We might want to find some shelter, unless you want to Chaos Control someplace."

"Where am I gonna Chaos Control to?" said Shadow, having apparently worked something out in his mind.

"There are only two places I could go right now and I don't want to be anywhere near either."

Sonic raised an eyebrow at this answer. "What?"

Shadow's response was cut off by the sound of thunder, slightly shaking the ground underneath their feet and echoing through the forest.

"Shelter it is," said Sonic, glancing around for any sort of cover.

Then glancing around for Shadow, who had disappeared.

"Shadow? Come on, man, this isn't funny!"

* * *

Shadow sighed, reaching out from under the rock Sonic had been leaning against earlier and tugging at one of his socks. When Sonic got down on his hands and knees, Shadow grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him under the rock.

* * *

It was like a freaking cave under here! Sonic looked around, wondering when this could have been hollowed out. He'd been all over this forest and he'd never seen this. How had Shadow..?

* * *

Shadow crossed her arms and leaned against the cool, stone side of the chamber. She was glad they were on top of a hill; otherwise water might have been able to seep in through the entrance.

She looked over at Sonic. He seemed to have forgotten the situation before the whole shelter-finding thing. He was examining the stone walls in what little light there was and he seemed fairly excited about it. She shrugged, curling up against the wall and deciding to take a nap.

* * *

Sonic glanced over at Shadow. He didn't seem at all interested in what he'd found and Sonic decided he might have the right idea by settling in for a short siesta. Sonic curled up against the other side of the hollow and went to sleep.


	17. Chaos Control Healing?

Sonic woke up first, and was not at all happy with what he found.

He'd been having a nice dream and when he woke up in the dark and the cold and the sort-of wet, by the light of the Chaos Emerald he realized.  
He was cuddling Shadow the Hedgehog.

Sonic jumped up and backwards, hitting his head against the wall of the hole, slipping on the smooth, wet floor, and falling down again in the tiny space.

* * *

Shadow awoke to a loud crack. Dismissing it as lightning hitting a tree, she rolled over to see how Sonic was doing.

Not so well.

"Ow! Freakin'… Augh! Nng…"

Sonic was on the ground, holding his side and muttering mild curses. As far as Shadow knew, Sonic didn't curse. She was at his side in a second, pulling him over onto his back and looking at what he'd been covering up.

* * *

Shadow was awake. How long had Shadow been awake? Had Shadow actually been awake first? Did he know about the cuddling?

These and many other thoughts ran through Sonic's mind, releasing endorphins in his brain and making him forget about the pain in his side. Sonic was embarrassed, not to mention terrified of what Shadow might do to him if he knew what happened.

"Sit still. I think it's your hip. Hang on a minute."

Okay, so Shadow probably didn't know. Sonic relaxed a bit, before tensing up again in pain.

* * *

Shadow took the Chaos Emerald out of her apron pocket and held it near Sonic's injury, drawing out some energy to heal it. Sonic's breathing leveled out and he relaxed again, sitting up as Shadow put the Emerald away.

"You okay, now?"

Sonic nodded, looking in Shadow's general direction.

"Hey, we never did get you anything to eat," recalled Sonic, scratching at where Shadow had healed him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," responded Shadow, "now that I've got the Chaos Emerald… You don't mind if I hang on to it, do you?"

Sonic shrugged. "As long as it's in good hands. I think I can trust you."

"After I punched you in the face?"

"I said 'I think.' Doesn't mean I know what I'm talking about."

Sonic laughed. Shadow hadn't been joking, but she supposed that Sonic didn't really care about that anymore. He really did trust her…

"Seriously though, how does having the Chaos Emerald make you not hungry? I've had one, even all of them several times and I still had to eat."

"I'm designed to work with the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic. When I have one, I automatically start relying on it for energy, instead of my own digestive processes."

"Translation?" questioned Sonic, waving his hand for Shadow to continue.

"I don't need to eat if I have another source of energy. That work for you?"

"Sure," said Sonic, nodding his head and looking up toward the small entrance of the hole they were in. "It's getting late…"

"It's only around nine," shrugged Shadow. She was used to late nights.

Sonic sighed. "Sure. Nine… How do you know, anyways?"

"I just have a good sense of time."

Sonic nodded and shuffled back against a wall.

"Okay. So, we've been out all day. I'm wide awake after that nap. How about you?"

"Could be better. Could be worse."

"So-so. Okay. You know, you say a lot more words than you need to sometimes."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Do I?"

"Well, not right there, you didn't, but I mean, sometimes you-"

"Well, I'm not the only one guilty of doing so, am I," stated Shadow, getting Sonic with his own point.

"Ah," replied Sonic, realizing this was true.

"Never mind, Sonic."

"Do you want to go out and do something or what?" asked Sonic, remembering the original subject.

"Well, considering you're kind of blind right now, no. Not really."

"Oh, yeah. So, crazy weather we've been having, huh?"

* * *

Rouge pulled her blanket closer around herself. She had hurried back to her hotel room when it started raining, deciding to forget about Sonic and Shadow. She'd radioed HQ and told them that she'd completed the mission and that Sonic had been totally fine when she'd found him. Now she was curled up in bed, watching basic cable and finding herself wondering if those two hedgehogs were doing alright out in the woods under a rock in what the news was calling heavy rains and chance of a thunderstorm.


	18. Journal Panic

'Ten thirty-four pm. Sonic and I are still in the park, in the hole, waiting out the night. Wanted to see Sonic, but am currently seeing more of him than bargained for. Bad thing?'

"Who are you texting?" asked Sonic, interrupting Shadow's thoughts.

Shadow hid her backlit screen and muttered a response. In his blindness, Sonic had been getting a little closer than Shadow liked.

"What? You were mumbling. You know, if you text someone in town you'll-"

"Give us away? I know, Sonic. Sheesh, you think I'm that stupid?"

"No," Sonic shook his head, leaning back against the closest wall and vaguely scratching at his arm with a sort of guilty expression, "No."

There was a long pause. The sound of water dripping counted the seconds. Shadow grew nervous.

"I'm writing in a journal application. My, um. My psychiatrist said. Said it would…"

"Help..?" ventured Sonic, crawling a little closer.

"I'll tell you right now, Sonic; it does. It really does. And I know it's weird to keep a diary, but-!"

"No! Not at all! It's pretty cool actually."

Shadow looked at her phone. It was running out of batteries. She saved her progress.

* * *

Sonic took the silence as a positive and scooted in nearer to Shadow. He wouldn't tell Shadow that he kept his own journal of his adventures, (an audio journal; Sonic had no patience for the written word) but the understanding was there. Shadow put away his phone. It was just the two of them, lit indistinctly by the glow of the Chaos Emerald, the red light emanating from Shadow's apron pocket.

Sonic scooted away, his eyes widening, his breathing speeding up. A stray thought had drawn his attention:

'Snuggle him again.'

* * *

"Sonic, are you alright?" asked Shadow, looking across at Sonic.

He had a strange, wild look in his eyes; a cross between shock and fear. Glancing around the dark space; trying to see the room, trying to find the exit.

Shadow reached over and touched Sonic's hand. A short, loud exclamation met her ears. Sonic pulled away, his eyes no less wild. A panic attack?

* * *

Sonic did not want to be here right now. Alone with Shadow, bad ideas running through his head, and now Shadow was trying to help? Sonic wasn't sure what to do, but it sure didn't include initiating cuddle time with the Ultimate Lifeform. What Shadow would do to him…? Sonic was certain there would be no evidence.

But not a moment later, Shadow was on top of him; holding his arms to his sides and muttering into his ear. What?

* * *

This was what the asylum employees did when a panic attack occurred in a patient that was normally calm. They made sure he couldn't hurt himself before trying to calm him down, talking softly and quietly until the patient stopped struggling. Sonic kept struggling.

"Shh. It's okay. Relax, you're all right. Everything's all right. Breathe. Sonic, close your eyes. Listen to me. Deep breaths."

* * *

Sonic couldn't believe this. Shadow the Hedgehog. Ultimate Lifeform. Holding him to the ground. Telling him to relax. This was wrong. This was very wrong. This must be a nightmare. This must be some kind of fevered dream from the same side of his brain as the snuggly message. This was not good.

But he was tiring quickly. Shadow was practically a brick wall of holding-you-in-place-itude, and against I-don't-wanna-be-here the Hedgehog, his approach seemed well thought out in that Sonic was reduced from seizure-like tremors to a wimpy shiver, his will to escape lessened by the calming words whispered to him.

* * *

Sonic whimpered, shivering in the cool air. Shadow backed off, keeping Sonic's arms in check and looking over his face. Sonic looked guilty and somewhat frightened. Shadow leaned to the side, getting off of Sonic and letting the blue hedgehog recoup.

"It's alright, Sonic. This can stay between us."

Shadow watched vigilantly for the next ten minutes as Sonic recovered and finally fell asleep. Really thinking about it, Shadow realized she wasn't really sure what just happened. She and Sonic had been having a conversation, there had been a pause, and then Sonic had had a panic attack? Shadow sighed. What was she trying to understand Sonic for? They probably wouldn't be together much longer. They'd always gone their separate ways in the end, and there wasn't a doubt something would come up that Sonic would need to take care of.

She scooted closer to Sonic. It was fact. Sonic would be gone from her life again soon. No regrets, no parting gifts, no deep-seated memories.

So why was she feeling so sad?

* * *

Night number two in the pen. Sonic hadn't answered her one phone call and Amy was still angry about it. She sat on her bunk and tapped her foot angrily; her roommate huddling under his blanket, no doubt afraid of her. She would be out soon, though. She had a lawyer.


	19. Out of the Woods

Sonic opened his eyes. It hadn't been a dream. They were still in a pit under the Redwoods National Park, he'd still freaked out last night, and Shadow had actually held him down and talked him to sleep. Beyond that, the dream he'd had afterwards had apparently come true, too.

Shadow the Hedgehog was cuddling him.

His arms were around Sonic from the back, holding him against his chest, his head over Sonic's shoulder.

Sonic was both entranced and terrified. Was Shadow aware of what he was doing? Could he get out of this tangle without accidentally giving Shadow a face-full of quills?

He was about to find out firsthand…

* * *

Shadow was awake, but not up; only hazily aware of her surroundings. She knew that she was holding something, or someone in front of her, and it was sort of struggling to get out of her grip. She let it go, rolling over and away from it. Then she was up.

She shook her head and looked up as Sonic was trying to reach the exit of the hollow. He jumped up, his spin jump loosening the dirt around the hole and lowering the handhold. He climbed out and turned around, sticking his head back in the hole.

"You comin', Shadow?"

Shadow nodded and stood up, climbing out as Sonic had.

* * *

"So what now?"

"I don't know, you're the one with the Chaos Emerald," replied Sonic, leading the two of them deeper into the woods.

Sonic wasn't really sure where they were going, or why they were running away from Redwood Park. The authorities would understand the situation; they had made loopholes for Sonic before.

"What, does that make me leader or something?"

"No, it's just-…" What did the Chaos Emerald have to do with anything, anyway? Sonic was still in the lead, Shadow rarely-questioningly following.

"Six in the morning. Nothing to do," sighed Shadow, kicking at rocks and actually really looking like he was enjoying the scenery.

Sonic enjoyed it too. Early fall meant that the leaves were just starting to turn colors and nobody was really in a rush to prepare for winter yet.

Sonic's breath seized in his chest. That unfamiliar territory in his mind sent him another message:

'Almost Mating Season.'

Sonic had stopped walking. He felt Shadow put his hand on his shoulder. Sonic did not want a repeat of last night, though.

* * *

"Sonic? Are you okay? Do you need to stop?"

Sonic whirled around, appearing flustered, his hands up to stop Shadow from touching him.

"I'm fine- just fine! Um. Do you think we should head back to town?" Sonic was changing the subject.

"Why? Do you? I don't think it's a bad idea."

Sonic sighed, a hint of relief in his eyes as he turned back around, still leading onward.

"I think we can get everything straightened out with the police. Maybe they'll just let us off with… public service or something."

"Shadow," laughed Sonic, "I think we might be able to talk them into giving us a full pardon if we just explain what happened!"

Shadow was still serious. "Breaking into a hospital to visit a patient outside of visiting hours? Property damage? Leaving the scene of a crime?"

Sonic stopped again; probably to actually think about the situation.

"I don't look good in orange."

"I think you do (kind of) but I don't think you'll be wearing any anytime soon, if we play our cards right."

Sonic turned and looked at Shadow with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh."

Shadow raised an eyebrow in response.

"'Huh'? What do you mean by 'huh'?"

* * *

Sonic turned back around, unable to stop the strange smile that had crept onto his face.

'He Digs Us,' chuckled Uncharted Territory, materializing in Sonic's mind as himself in a red robe with a pitchfork, standing on Sonic's shoulder.

Sonic shivered; though given mental form, this creature of his psyche was still frighteningly sketchy. Sonic was a little… distrustful of it.

Sonic did not answer. Shadow had understood that Sonic could be cloudy sometimes, but this was getting ridiculous. She decided not to cause him bodily harm, but continue to follow. She could hear the sound of cars ahead, dulled by crowds and pigeons. Redwood Park was not far.


	20. Season Finale?

The police station was cold. Officer Collins relaxed in his desk chair as Sonic and Shadow filled out papers. Delta fell asleep on Shadow's shoes. Officer Collins trusted his dog when it came to people; he believed they had a sixth sense about that. These two were good kids… for twenty-or-so year old hedgehogs. Sonic had finished his papers and turned them in as Shadow lingered a bit on a few questions. Overall, they finished quickly and were allowed to leave as long as they paid for the damages before the next weekend.

Delta followed Sonic and Shadow to the door and looked up at Collins as they left. He raised an eyebrow. Normally that meant they would be seeing whoever was leaving again. Collins sighed. He had other cases to attend to, anyways.

* * *

"This is me," said Shadow, as the two hedgehogs stopped outside Bernard's Apartment Complex. Sonic hesitated, tapping a foot.

"Would you like to..?" asked Shadow, pointing at the door.

"Um, sure. I'll get that." Sonic held open the door as Shadow walked through, Mr. Bernard winking at her as she waved at him.

Raising an eyebrow, Shadow turned to the glass doors and saw Sonic was already walking away. She leaned out the door and called after him.

"I meant: 'would you like to come inside and see my place'! Sheesh!"

Sonic' ears perked and he turned around, eyes bright, grinning. He rushed into the building, his foot catching on the carpet as he toppled forward, Shadow barely snagging him by the arm before he could land on his face.

"Quite a catch there, Shadow," commented Mr. Bernard. Shadow gave him a look as she helped Sonic back to a standing position.

"Sorry," said Sonic, blushing as they walked to the elevator.

Shadow pressed the button for her floor as they entered the elevator. Sonic whistled along to them music. Shadow looked up. It was one of those oldies about love. Apparently the girl had left, but the boy still loved her. They reached her floor quickly.

Shadow led the way out of the elevator to her apartment, which she remembered she had forgotten to clean up after leaving for work the day before yesterday.

* * *

Sonic walked into paradise. Clothes were everywhere. Someone had spilled cereal on the floor. Half-empty chip bags closed by clothespins were all over the pack of the kitchen counter. In addition, Shadow had just said "Make yourself at home." Sonic flopped down on the couch in front of the flat-panel television and kicked off his shoes; leaning back and picking up the TV remote.

* * *

Shadow laughed. Sonic sure knew how to follow orders. She went into the bedroom to pick out some more comfortable clothes while Sonic turned on the TV.

* * *

Sonic channel-surfed for a while before noticing the TiVo button on the remote control. Shadow had a few things recorded already.  
Skateboarding. Videogames. A news story about cell phones. A documentary about swing dancing?  
Sonic shrugged. It wasn't that weird…

Shadow returned to the room. Sonic looked up to greet him, but found himself a little speechless.

* * *

Shadow came in, noticed the look on Sonic's face, and continued into the kitchen. He looked kind of silly with his mouth open like that… What was his deal, anyways? She wasn't wearing anything special; in fact, she was in her pajamas: an oversized Planet Hollywood shirt with zebra-print sleep pants. A pair of white socks and a new pair of slightly oversized gloves and Sonic had followed her across the room, not just with his eyes, but he had turned his whole head to watch her.

She ignored the thought and looked through the refrigerator for something to make. No doubt, Sonic was hungry after a day or so out in the woods with nothing to eat…

* * *

'You want him?'

Sonic looked up, shaking off his shock and coming face-to-face with a tiny version of himself.

'What?' he responded in thought; the small devilishly dressed reflection seeming to hear and replying.

'You want him. I know it. You know it.'

'You! You're from back in the woods! Who are you?'

'Uncharted Territory,' spoke the demon, 'I'm you. How you see you. I'm letting you know. You want that Shadow.'

Sonic turned away. 'No I don't!'

'You think he's hot. Did you see him? Practically in his pajamas!'

'Listen, bucko, Shadow and I are friends- maybe not even that- and I'm just over for a short visit! What are you even here for? …Where's your pitchfork?'

'All in good time,' spoke Uncharted Territory, disappearing as Sonic's attention turned to the kitchen door.

"Chinese Rice for dinner. Any complaints?" asked Shadow, leaning out the door.

Sonic shook his head, flashing a smile. Something told him Shadow was a good cook, so he just went with it. Shadow smiled back and disappeared into the kitchen.

'Okay, I admit, Shadow's kind of attractive. But on a universal scale- everyone thinks Shadow is just as attractive as I think he is!'

Uncharted Territory gave Sonic a look. 'He's cooking for you. Who's ever done that?'

'He's being a good host! …Not a lot of people.'

'Pitchfork's in the shop.'

Sonic raised an eyebrow, confused. 'Oh, I get it. I answer your questions, you answer mine… Okay. What kind of shop fixes pitchforks?'

'What shop fixes chessboards?'

Sonic thought about this a minute. He could smell Chinese food in the kitchen.

'The pawn shop? Oh, I get it! Hey, you cheated! Making me answer my own question…'

'Never play by any rules. Thought you would get that.'

Sonic sighed. 'Oh yeah. You're the devil.'

'Out for your best interest. You want the Ultimate Lifeform. Nothing wrong with that, Sonic.'

Sonic crossed his arms, sinking into the couch cushions. 'Uh, actually, yeah, there is! He's a guy! I'm a guy! Get it?'

'Point taken; jeez, you're adamant. But you have to admit…'

'Admit what?'

'He is one fine honey. Don't you think so, Sonic?'

Sonic was thoroughly confused. 'Fine honey..?'

His thoughts were interrupted by Shadow, exiting the kitchen carrying a bowl of hot brownish-orange rice mixed with various vegetables and what appeared to be tiny chunks of scrambled egg. He set it down on the coffee table in front of Sonic, handing him a spoon and taking the remote control before sitting down next to him and going back to the TiVo menu. Sonic picked up the bowl and tasted a spoonful of rice.

* * *

Shadow glanced over to Sonic and did a double take. Sonic had tilted the bowl up to his face and was scarfing down the rice as fast as he could. He finished quickly and, with a few grains of rice still stuck to his muzzle, asked: "Um, how much did you make?"

Shadow laughed. "There's plenty more in the kitchen, Sonic! Don't worry; I know how much you eat."

Sonic rushed into the kitchen, taking a moment to lean back out the door and exclaim "You know me too well!" before partaking in the mass quantities of rice Shadow had prepared.

* * *

It was an hour later. Sonic was dozing on the couch, his stomach too full to allow him to stay awake much longer. His attention drifted from the television to Shadow. He pointed to his chest. He drew a heart shape in the air. He pointed at Shadow.  
Shadow had seen this. He smiled a bit and pointed to himself. He pointed at Sonic. He crossed his fingers.

Sonic smiled and fell asleep, unfortunately to dreams of angels and demons fighting about Shadow and trying to get his vote.

* * *

Shadow turned off the TV and listened to Sonic breathing. Just like out in the woods, only less damp and in comfortable clothes. She rather enjoyed the sound; she wouldn't mind falling asleep to Sonic's respiration every night.

However, this could be their last night together.

Shadow reached over and took Sonic's hand. "I love you, too, Sonic… I love you, too."


	21. Morning, Sonic

Shadow woke up in her own bed; more awake than she'd been in days. She ignored the pain pills on her bedside table and put on some day clothes. A green hooded sweatshirt with blue jeans; again, nothing special. She didn't have to worry about working anytime soon, anyway; the diner had completely burned to the ground. She reached into the pocket of her apron, hanging on the back of her door and retrieved the Chaos Emerald, slipping it into her shirt pocket as she left the room; freezing in surprise as she entered the kitchen.

She had actually expected Sonic to leave before she woke up, but here he was, munching some chips out of a half-empty bag from the counter, his feet up on the table, the chair he was in tilted back onto its back two legs and looking fairly precarious.

"Morning, Sonic…"

Sonic looked up, surprised. The front two legs of the chair touched down. He brought his feet off of the table and hurriedly closed the chip bag.

"No, you can have those. I'll never finish them…"

Sonic smiled sheepishly, re-opening the bag.

"Thanks… You sleep well?"

Shadow nodded, sitting down and putting her feet up on the table, crossing her ankles. "You?"

Sonic shrugged. "You have a nice couch. Microfiber. Repels quills. Smart choice."

Shadow smiled. "When you're a hedgehog, you become self-aware fairly quickly. Sour cream and onion?"

"Second favorite to barbecue. Already emptied that bag. You've got quite a selection, actually."

"I try to expand my horizons. You should see how many kinds of cheeses there are in my fridge."

Sonic chuckled a bit, putting his feet back up on the table. "I like cheese."

"Brie? Limburger? Jalapeno and Cayenne Cheddar?"

"Never heard of them. Taste any good?"

"Brie tastes creamy but it's got a weird aftertaste. Limburger tastes… to put it bluntly, like dirt. And that last one is kind of spicy, I guess."

"Wow."

"Not that spicy. It's more like pepperoni or something. That kind of spicy."

"I meant: 'wow, you're really smart about food,' kind of 'wow'. Sheesh."

They laughed a bit. Irony.

Sonic started moving his pointer finger in the air, but Shadow cut him off with fingers crossed. Sonic looked at him, and then looked at his hand. He crossed his fingers.

"What does that mean, anyways? Good luck? I'm lying?"

"We're tight."

"Oh! Okay. I'm good with that."

"Why do you keep doing that pantomime-love-you thing?"

"Um..."

Sonic turned his head to his left, his ears perked as if hearing something. He kept his eyes on Shadow, though.

"Sonic?"

"We're like, brotherly love, kinda. I think. Friendly love?" sputtered Sonic, snapping out of his daze.

"Oh. Well."

Brotherly love? Did Sonic think she was a guy or something, now? Maybe he had brotherly love for her. Like a brother. That made more sense.

"I love you, too." Sisterly love? That sounded like she was a nun, which she most certainly was not…

* * *

Sonic had thought that maybe Uncharted Territory had been a hallucination of his food-deprived brain. He hadn't appeared until Shadow had asked about that charades thing he'd been doing. The little devil, not so little anymore, actually, had told him to confess his feelings, and Sonic had responded that he didn't have any, to which Uncharted Territory gave him a very sarcastic glare and disappeared.

Now he was back after Shadow's response.

'I think he digs you, really. You should totally go for it. Look at those eyes, he's sad. Disappointed in your 'brotherly love' shtick. Smile at him, cheer him up!'

Sonic did smile at Shadow, and Shadow smiled back. Sonic noticed his eyes. Red. It was his favorite color… But he also saw a tiny, metaphorical flame behind them, a spark showing in his pupils. Sonic shook off the thought. Since when was he metaphorical?

Sonic glanced back at Uncharted Territory. He had gotten his ears pierced in the time Sonic was thinking.

'You are on your way, kid. Now, you don't have any plans. Does he have anything planned, today?'

"You doing anything later, Shadow?"

"I'm not doing anything now! …You got anything scheduled?"

"No…"

'Make your move, Sonic; he's waiting!'

"Wanna head over to… The… Mall?"

'Nice one, bonehead; shopping with Shadow.'

"Sure. Might wanna stop by the police station first, thought. Turn in those rings."

'You are one brilliant sonuva gun.'

"I'll need to stop by the bank, then. I haven't got anything on me right now."

Shadow raised an eyebrow, standing up and heading over towards the door.

"I broke the doors, I'll pay the rings. I've got more than enough, anyhow."

"Shadow, I-…"

'You picked the right guy, pal. Rich, pretty, smart, sexy, and rich? Quintuple threat there, my friend- brilliant.'

'I am not that kind of guy, Uncharted Territory,' insisted Sonic as Shadow left.

'Right, 'beautiful soul' and all that. Well, you focus on that, pal. I will take care of downstairs.'

''Downstairs'? What do you mean 'downstairs'?'

Uncharted Territory grinned, clicking his tongue.

'Not sure if you're ready, kid. You're twenty one, but you're… naïve. For twenty one, anyway…' his eyebrows narrowed, 'screw it. I am talking about sex, Sonic.'

Sonic's eyes widened. 'You're not suggesting Shadow and me-? Sex-? No! Shadow's not-! How do two guys-? No! I don't even wanna know!'

'Virgins; you kids crack me up. Now, you're going to the mall. What is next on the agenda?'

'I'm still on the whole sex thing! Is that your goal? Your filthy… sent-from-hell mission?'

'Who the heck says 'filthy,' Sonic? And no, that's not my objective. You want it, he wants it. I am putting it all together. You don't have to 'do it'.'

"Thank God," muttered Sonic, under his breath, getting up from the table and meeting Shadow by the door.

"You work something out with yourself?" joked Shadow, holding open the door.

Sonic's answer caught in his throat, but he nodded as they left apartment 217, Shadow locking the door behind them and putting the key in his pocket.


	22. Debt to pay

"I feel kinda bad, not paying anything. Can't we each pay half?"

Shadow shook her head as they entered the bank, Sonic fidgeting about the debt to the hospital and Shadow claiming full responsibility.

"Sonic, I won't… Pay any less than half," sighed Shadow, finally giving in.

"Okay, we compromised. That's cool." Sonic grinned, his sense of responsibility satiated.

Sonic went up to the teller and struck up a conversation while Shadow examined the fake potted plant and collected her thoughts. What would they do at the mall? Shadow had never had time to go there; she just went to the secondhand stores around town for whatever she needed. Red Plaza was a little too fancy-shmancy for her, both in name and taste. Sonic, being a hero, probably had more class than she did; even if he was a little crazy sometimes, he could afford to be. Well, she could afford to be, too, actually, but it just wasn't her.

Sonic returned, gently tapping her shoulder for her attention. Shadow almost didn't notice.

"Oh. You don't have to worry about that anymore."

"You healed up?"

Shadow nodded and they left the bank. It was actually right next to the police station, smart planning on the founders' part.

"So, what was so interesting about that plant?" asked Sonic, following Shadow down the steps of the bank.

"The plant..? In the bank? Nothing. Well, it's fake, but aside from that, nothing."

"Why were you staring at it so long, then?" questioned Sonic, eyebrows lowered, smirking a bit.

"Why were you hanging out in the kitchen so long this morning?" retorted Shadow, ignoring Sonic's playfulness.

"Um. Well, I… was thinking; hard as it is to believe," said Sonic, nervously.

Shadow shrugged. "Same thing I was doing."

"Oh. Okay."

They entered the cold police station and got in line for the front desk; getting stopped by the last person Shadow wanted to see.

* * *

"Hello, Sonic. Shadow. What brings you downtown?" Amy Rose sounded as disinterested as possible, anger lacing her words. Sonic shivered.

"We're here on business, Rose," asserted Shadow, clearly making eye contact with Amy; daring her to move.

Sonic broke it up. "Hey, we've all got better things to do than fight, today, right?"

Amy turned on her heel, her nose in the air; the officer escort she was handcuffed to rolled his eyes and walked to the door, dragging her along. She wasn't quite out of hot water, yet.

As for Sonic and Shadow, they reached the front desk and paid their debts, signed a few more papers, and they were free.

"Funny seeing Amy there, huh?" asked Sonic as they left the building, banishing the awkward silence between himself and Shadow.

"I'm not really surprised. No offense."

"None taken," said Sonic, glancing around for a cab of some sort (Redwood Park had a taxi service, but not much of one) before turning back to Shadow. "Wanna dash on over to the mall? It's not that far up the street."

* * *

Was he serious? Shadow glanced around, almost expecting Sonic to be talking to someone else.

Sonic tensed up, his face red, probably from remembering why exactly Shadow couldn't "dash on over" anywhere by his meaning of the word.

"Um, I understand if you wanna… I mean, those aren't exactly running shoes, so… Um. Walking's alright with me…"

Shadow sighed. "If you wanna run, go ahead. I'm not stopping you. …I'll meet you there."

And Shadow started walking.

* * *

'Anyone ever tell you you're retarded? Because you pretty much are; seriously.'

Sonic ignored the little monster, brushing him off and jogging ahead to catch up to Shadow.

"Shadow! I'm sorry, okay? I just- I forgot, okay?"

Shadow glanced up at Sonic, appearing very confused and very unhappy.

"You don't just forget that kind of stuff, Sonic! Did I jar your brain that much?"

"No-!"

Their voices rose, Sonic secretly thankful that rush hour had just begun and their fight was being drowned out by car horns and crowd voices.

"Did you get dropped on your head as a kid? Do you just have issues-?"

"No, _no! I just don't handle change very well, okay?_"

They fell silent. Car engines reigned alongside the chatter of the surrounding citizens, commuters, and tourists.

* * *

"We're making progress," spoke Shadow, after a moment of cooling down. "Why don't you take change well, Sonic?"

Sonic's mouth opened and shut a few times before he actually spoke.

"Because nothing ever changes."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean- … I fight Eggman. I _always_ do. It's _always_ him. Tails and Knuckles _always_ help me. I _always_ come out on top. It never changes! Then I move here. Sleepy little town. Once you get to know everyone, nothing ever changes. And… And you…"

"I changed," finished Shadow.

Sonic's ears folded back, slowly. "I… When I think of you, I still see Mister 'Ultimate Lifeform'; Mister 'Can't Touch This'. I just- …I shouldn't… hold you to those expectations because you're… you're different now. And I don't mean in a bad way, I just-!"

Shadow touched his shoulder. "I understand, Sonic. It was just a little slip. I shouldn't have walked away from you like that. And I shouldn't have flipped out on you after that."

Sonic turned away from her contact. "Let's just get to the mall, okay?"

* * *

"Okay," sighed Shadow, barely loud enough for Sonic to hear.

Sonic hadn't intended to go that far, but he had been pushed…

He hadn't been challenged like that before. Usually his fights were physical. Blows would be exchanged. Somebody would come out with something broken or bruised. Right now, though, all that was bruised was Sonic's pride. Sonic didn't analyze his problems; he didn't have any!

But… Shadow had made him show one. Shadow had made him look at it. Made him think about it.

Sonic had been doing a lot of thinking, lately.

* * *

Why was Shadow trying to understand Sonic, again? She was embarrassed; she had started a fight in public with and played psychiatrist to the guy who regularly beat the crap out of evil geniuses and their robot armies and both won the argument and got him to actually figure something out about his problem.

Maybe she really was at full power here.


	23. Red Plaza

Red Plaza. All decked out and colorful in preparation for… Halloween, Sonic guessed. It was the next holiday in the lineup. Funny, he didn't remember Halloween colors being pink, purple, and rainbow. Men walked around in funny outfits handing out badges with triangles on them and gave them oddly friendly smiles, and women seemed to be the minority, all huddled in a group like they were...

* * *

Shadow was mortified. She had completely forgotten about the LGBT promotional visit to the most romantic place on the continent (for all lovers, apparently). It was clear that Sonic had, too; otherwise he never would have invited her! …Or maybe he was trying to say something.

"I wonder what everybody's so happy about?"

Okay, so Sonic was just entirely unaware of the event. Shadow, in order to avoid further contact with anybody in rainbow spandex, grabbed Sonic by the chest fuzz and dragged him into the ladies restroom, hiding near the sinks. Sonic, confused as he was, protested.

"Shadow, we're in the girls' room? I don't know if you're just lost or what, but the boys' room is on the other side of the-."

"Shh! Sonic, what are we doing here?"

"I don't know, I don't have to go to the bathroom, and-."

"I meant: 'at the mall'! What are we doing at the mall?"

"Um. I don't know. Shopping or something? I just wanted to hang out…"

"There are a million places to hang out in this city, Sonic; why'd you have to choose the place _where the LGBT are today?_"

"LGBT?"

Shadow leaned back against a pinkish stall. How could a twenty-one year old be so naïve?

"LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender."

"Oh my G-!"

Sonic froze, apparently having some sort of mental breakdown.

"Sonic? Sonic, snap out of it! Wake up!"

* * *

'This is all your fault!'

'That's amazing, dude; I didn't remember!' Uncharted Territory laughed, pointing at Shadow, 'Now he's gonna figure it out! Whether you want him or not!'

"Shadow, I didn't know!" insisted Sonic, his shoulders shaking, glancing back and forth between Shadow and Uncharted Territory, "I'm not- I mean; you know I'm not-!"

"Sonic, relax," sighed Shadow, already forming a plan of escape. "Let's just get out of here and maybe come back some other time."

Uncharted Territory's expression blanked. He stared at Shadow with a quizzical stare.

'He…He wants to leave, already?' he looked away, unfamiliar emotions in his eyes. Thoughtful. Worried.

"Okay, Shadow," said Sonic, a tiny hint of disappointment in his voice, matching Uncharted Territory's visage, "let's get out of here."

* * *

Shadow immediately jumped up and grabbed Sonic's hand.

"Chaos Con-!"

"WAIT!" exclaimed Sonic, letting go of Shadow's hand, Shadow stopping her invocation. "Wait…"

"What..? You'd… rather stay here?"

"I know you might be… uncomfortable around them, but I'm sure if you get to know them, they're… not bad? I don't know. I didn't think they were weird. I mean, they just like different people, I guess. What I'm trying to say is- …can we at least get something to eat at the food court before we leave?"

* * *

'Listen up, boy blue; you're retarded.' Groaned Uncharted Territory, slumping against a stall door before accidentally falling in.

'Wow,' said Shadow, shaking his head, a dumbfounded expression on his face, "just… wow. Okay, we'll get lunch. Just…"

* * *

Shadow was in awe, following Sonic out of the restroom and toward the food court, smiling and waving at all the unfamiliar- wait, was that Dr. Epperson?  
Um. The unfamiliar… Wow. She knew a lot of people here, actually. They waved back at her, a raised eyebrow all that showed any 'what are you doing here' in their expressions. Shadow really couldn't complain; they were nice people, just… misguided? No… what could describe what made them different? Shadow shook it off as Sonic approached a submarine sandwich store, just as Shadow was craving a BLT...G? What _wouldn't_ they rename for a special occasion?

* * *

Uncharted Territory sat backwards in a chair at a table adjacent to Sonic and Shadow's. Shadow munched his BLT with a mystery ingredient that composed the G part of the special one-day-only name, and Sonic had practically already eaten his spaghetti-sauce-and-meatball sandwich. Uncharted Territory sighed loudly and obnoxiously.

'Does he know you're gay, yet?'

'If I _was_ gay, he would," groaned Sonic, mentally. In real life he spoke: "You figure out what the G is, Shadow?"

"I think it's… garlic. That's the only G-thing I can think of off the top of my head. Doesn't taste like garlic, though."

'He said G-thing; that is hilarious.' Sighed Uncharted Territory, staring at Shadow's sandwich.

"Maybe it's gherkin. You ever had a gherkin before? Like a cucumber, except you have to cook it special."

"Maybe that's it. Hey!" called Shadow, to the nearby cashier for the sandwich shop, "Does the G stand for gherkin?"

The man nodded, giving a thumbs-up. Shadow smiled.

"Guess I haven't tried everything, have I?"

"Now you have," joked Sonic, laughing a bit.

'And Sonic the Hedgehog saves the day.'

Sonic's expression blanked. 'You said seven words.'

'So what if I said seven words?' retorted Uncharted Territory, saying seven words again.

Sonic looked around a bit, confused.

'You said seven words, and all this time you've only been saying six; all day you've only been saying six words per sentence and now you're saying seven?'

"Something wrong, Sonic?" asked Shadow, breaking Sonic's concentration.

"No, not really," said Sonic, making unsteady eye contact with Shadow.

* * *

Shadow had an inner debate. Be forward and tell him you're worried about him? Or be cool and tell him to stop spacing out? Be cool, definitely.

"You make me worry sometimes, you know that?" Oops.

Sonic lowered his head, seemingly feeling guilty.

"Sorry. I just… I'm having a sort of… inner debate, you know? Ever had one of those?"

"All the time," deadpanned Shadow, feeling as if somehow Sonic was reading her mind.

Sonic nodded, glancing down at Shadow's hand across the table, still with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry about bringing you here. I honestly didn't know about the… G-L-… -something people. We'll leave when you're done eating."

Shadow reached over, touching Sonic's opposite hand, trying to cheer him up a bit. Gee, that sounded kind of weird, actually. Cheering up _Sonic?_

"Hey, we're tight, remember?" Shadow reassured, "if you want to hang out with those people, that's fine with me. I actually know quite a few of them, looking through that crowd…"

"Really?" asked Sonic, somewhat at ease.

"Well, they all live around here, so-."

"I meant: 'really, we're staying awhile,' Shadow," chuckled Sonic.

"We keep doing that, don't we," sighed Shadow, smiling back.

Today still had the potential to be good, so why not?


	24. The Mall and the Mob

Shadow stumbled off of the simulation ride, vowing never to do anything after eating again. Except for maybe sleeping.

Sonic was much more jazzed than Shadow, bouncing out the door and down the steps. "Man, that was awesome!"

Shadow sat down on a bench and took a copy of the mall map as Sonic bounced around a bit more before practically diving headfirst into a trash can to throw up.

There wasn't much that was interesting here, really. A couple of videogame stores. One sporting goods store. Not much to look at, really, unless you wanted clothing. There were plenty of stores focusing on that here. A movie store, a girly store, a couple of bookstores, and finally a couple of those hippie-stuff-that-weirds-you-out-but-they've-got-hermit-crabs-so-you-go-in-anyways stores. Shadow was never tempted to get one of those hermit crabs, but they were cute… for invertebrates. Maybe one of those bookstores had something interesting.

"Hey, Sonic?" questioned Shadow, looking up at Sonic, who was still green in the face.

"Y- Yeah?" he responded, glancing over at Shadow.

"Want to head over to a bookstore after you're done?"

Sonic turned away to continue throwing up, but he gave Shadow a thumbs-up anyway. Shadow smiled a bit. She knew it was rude to think so, but there was just something funny about how long Sonic was throwing up…

* * *

Sonic finished up and gargled in a nearby water fountain before he and Shadow headed back toward the pride convention to make their way to the nearest bookstore. Unfortunately…

"Hey, it's Sonic!"

…they were recognized, or at least Sonic was. People crowded. Sonic was suddenly the most popular guy in the mall. Everyone with a camera wanted a picture, and everyone else wanted their picture taken with him. Shadow was quickly being crowded out!

"Shadow!" exclaimed Sonic over the din of excited humans, "I'll meet you at the bookstore, okay?"

* * *

This was not okay with Shadow. There being no openings in the multitude, she tried to push by.

Bad idea.

The man and woman she had tried to squeeze past did not recognize her presence, but did notice the displacement. Each one thinking it was the other, they began to argue, quickly gaining the attention of more of the mob; the movement of the group pushing Shadow farther back, into a small supply closet and shutting the door behind her.

* * *

Sonic woke up surrounded by frilly things.

Somehow he had gotten picked up by the mass of people in the main area and dropped off in some clothes store. Currently in a rack of something he couldn't quite recognize but identified as ladies' underwear, Sonic considered the situation. As such was his luck, Uncharted Territory happened to stick his head into the rack, just as he began to think.

'Hey, bro; looking for something in particular?'

'Go away.'

'Don't be harsh; I'm trying to help! I think you'd look better in red."

'Give me a break, will you? I mean, I feel like I'm stuck in an old cartoon. Landing in ladies' underwear…'

Sonic's eyebrows rose; a smile broke out on his muzzle.

'Landing in ladies' underwear. Only straight guys land in ladies' underwear in those cartoons, right?'

'I don't like where you're going, Sonic…'

'According to television, I'm straight!' thought Sonic, though in real life he was jumping out of the rack and pulling a victory pose.

All of which was visible to the surrounding customers; a great many of them female.

Most of Sonic's blood rushed up to his face.

"I'm, uh… I was… Looking for something for my mother!" he exclaimed, hightailing it out of there.

* * *

Shadow's hands hurt. She'd been beating on the closet door for the past twenty-three minutes and she was beginning to lose hope. She'd tried the door several times, but it was locked from the outside, which was rather stupid for the designers. Just anybody could come in and steal something, but if anyone were trapped? Sheesh. No thought whatsoever. Shadow sat down on an overturned bucket and waited. Where was Sonic? No doubt still signing autographs and taking pictures. Fame.

A thought occurred to her. She checked her pockets for- no. The Chaos Emerald must have fallen out in the confusion. She was stuck in the closet.

Well, that was a depressingly funny notion. Stuck in the closet during a gay pride convention. Ironic.

Adding to the misfortune, the small fluorescent light illuminating the closet flickered and buzzed before finally going out.

* * *

Sonic sighed. He didn't want to go through the convention again, seeing as he was back to the far side of the store, but it was a better option than hanging around and listening to Uncharted Territory's rejoicing.

'You could have said 'girlfriend', not 'mother.' You had every opportunity to say 'girlfriend'. But I guess you really are gay!'

'I don't have a girlfriend,' said Sonic.

'You don't have a mother, either, dude.' Sighed Uncharted Territory, his laughter subsiding.

He walked alongside Sonic, now a little over half his height. 'Really though, Sonic, you're overreacting about this-_oof!_'

Sonic stopped, accidentally smacking Uncharted Territory in the head as he stuck out a hand to stop him. Something caught Sonic's attention in the nearby koi fountain. He hurried over to it and bent down, looking into the water at a red, glowing object in the bottom, just within reach.

"The Chaos Emerald!" exclaimed Sonic, recognizing it. "Shadow must have dropped it!"

Sonic leaned in, reaching into the water. "I should give it back to him. He might need-."

"THIEF!"

Sonic nearly lost his balance, looking up to see an older lady dressed in rainbow tye-dye yelling to a mall cop and pointing at him.

"He's stealing from the fountain!"

The cop looked up. Sonic looked down. He was currently red-handed. That is, he had the red Chaos Emerald in his hand literally, and metaphorically he was in the middle of stealing it, his arm still partially underwater. Sonic swiftly stowed the Emerald in his quills and ran; the mall security guard giving chase.

Sonic knew he could outrun the officer, at least until he reached the swarming main hall, but with that quickly approaching, Sonic began to look for a place to hide.

* * *

Shadow had begun to doze off when someone else entered the closet, the door only being opened for a split second. She held her breath; the only sound in the room the new occupant's labored respiration. It sounded oddly familiar, but she wasn't going to take any chances.

"Stay near the door! I've got a mop and I can figure out several ways how to use it!"

"Shadow?" asked the newcomer, his voice amazingly familiar.

"Sonic?" answered Shadow, dropping the mop she had grabbed in her panic.

Sonic revealed himself to be the real deal as he took the red Chaos Emerald out of his quills and handed it to Shadow.

"What say you we get the heck outta here?"

Shadow smiled and procured the Emerald, taking Sonic's hand and whispering a quick "Chaos Control."

* * *

Alex Baker had had a long day. Now he would have an even longer day. There was a reason these closets locked from the outside, and now that was entirely for naught! He had sworn that blue hedgehog had gone in there; and now: _paperwork_.

Sometimes he wished he could have gotten a job as an actual baker.


	25. GUN NIDU: the box

Sonic's vision was blurry as he sat up after the Chaos Control that got them out of the mall. He shook his head, still not entirely aware of his location; however, he was aware that he had landed on something soft…

"…Sonic? Mind getting off?"

Sonic jumped up and tried to turn around, tripping over himself and falling on his rear end. His vision cleared. Shadow pushed himself up where Sonic had just been sitting and stood, dusting himself off. Sonic looked around. A long road. A tall, white building in the distance. Chain-link fences with barbed wire at the top. In fewer words, it was imposing.

"That's an unfriendly lookin' place. Where are we?"

Shadow turned around. He had been looking in the opposite direction. "Hmm? I'm not sure where we are, but- Oh…"

Shadow caught sight of the building and fell silent. Sonic stood up and joined him in staring at it.

"Um… What is it?" asked Sonic, giving Shadow a confused glance.

"GUN NIDU."

"Gun knee-do? What does that-?"

"The Guardian Unit of Nations' National Institution for the Deranged and Unstable," explained Shadow, as succinct as ever, "or as the inmates call it, 'the box'."

"Oh…" replied Sonic. Was this the 'insane asylum' he'd been told of?

"I didn't mean to bring you here, Sonic. I'd meant to go to another part of Redwood Park. Come on, let's go back."

Sonic took Shadow's hand. "Don't wanna talk about it?"

"Maybe some other time. Chaos Control."

* * *

Shadow was relieved to find that they'd arrived unharmed at the street corner where the Redwoods bike path connected to the city streets. She'd taken Sonic here a few times already. It wasn't a particularly fancy spot; just as decorated as any other corner in Redwood Park, but Shadow had a few good memories here. Maybe that's why her Chaos Control was on the fritz…

As for Sonic, he had landed bottom-first in one of the corner flower boxes and was currently covered in potting soil and red carnations, flailing for help and spitting out foliage that had somehow ended up in his mouth. Shadow sighed and offered her hand, which he gladly took, freeing himself from the dirt-and-vitamin-mixture. He dusted himself off as Shadow looked around; being near _the box_ let her see the city in a new light.

When Redwood Park was founded as a town, the people living there built their houses in a particular style. It wasn't particularly fancy, but like all the other cities in the world at the time, they wanted their own style to go by. They went with a sort of colonial style; columns holding up balconies with set-in outer walls. Shutters on the windows, flower boxes hanging outside, meticulously fashioned street lamps near the occasional fenced-in tree. Everything was brick red and cement white. Built-in flower boxes on every corner, benches and hobbies to the locals and largely ignored by the tourists, save for a photo op. Above the buildings were the towering skyscrapers, mostly steel and glass, but somehow steeple-like and elegant, never truly waning from the picture of the entire city; and above them all, the immense conifers of Redwoods National Park. It was something to behold, nature's giants rivaling, even dwarfing the creations of modern-day humans.

Shadow shook off her reverent observations and turned to Sonic, who had finally completed cleaning out his mouth. Having just spit out enough leaves and blooms for a bouquet, Sonic hurried over to Shadow's side before asking:

"Can we get something to eat? I'm starved."

Shadow nodded, and they walked to the nearest restaurant; Sonic whistling whatever song came into his head, and Shadow simply observing.

* * *

Wolf's was a sort of fast-food-slash-barbeque restaurant named for the city's sports mascot, the Ethiopian wolf. It made sense, both were red and white. Sonic and Shadow were given a table and their drink orders taken (a Pepsi for Sonic, water for Shadow) before the waiter left them to their own devices.

"Have you ever been here before?" asked Shadow, trying to start a conversation and looking around at the African décor.

"Yep," replied Sonic, fascinated by the napkin dispenser on the table, pulling out several handfuls of the thin, white papers, "you?"

"No; Eiglestein's took most of my eating-out budget. Sort of an occupational loyalty thing, you know?"

"I get ya'," said Sonic, starting to fold a few napkins into a sort of tangram-slash-origami shape, "So this is new to you? Cool."

"It's very nice, really…" said Shadow; Sonic noticing that he was really looking at him. Sonic got a bright idea. He turned around in his seat.

"Do you have a pen I could borrow for a second?" he asked to the patrons behind him. They were happy to comply. Just a pen, after all…

Sonic wrote something on a napkin and quickly folded it in half a couple of times before slipping it into an origami envelope. He handed the pen back to its owners and pulled out a few more napkins.

The waiter came back by, bringing their drinks and taking their orders (Sonic ordered a hamburger with fries and Shadow didn't want anything) before leaving again. Sonic sipped his Pepsi and went back to folding.

"I've never been to Africa," said Shadow, absently. "Have you? I mean, of course you did; that whole 'world adventure' thing about six years ago."

"You heard about that?" asked Sonic, a little worried. How much did Shadow know about that?

"Yeah, it was kind of hard not to; everyone felt the earthquakes, I happened to be in Kansas. A GUN mission."

So Shadow didn't know about the whole werewolf thing. Thank goodness. "What happened to that whole GUN agent business, anyhow?"

"I was fired, er, _'dishonorably discharged'_, as they put it, after the thing four years ago."

"That… Did I mention I'm sorry about that?" asked Sonic, setting aside his origami for the time being.

"_You're_ sorry? Three years I didn't know whether you were alive or dead after something _I_ did, and _you're_ sorry?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry I interrupted what you were doing; I- …You didn't know I was alive?"

"You were in a coma for _seven days_, Sonic! Day three I was freaking out at your bedside and people in white coats had to drag me away!" Shadow seemed more amused than unhappy with this information he was revealing to Sonic.

"That's… That's how you ended up in… the box?" asked Sonic, gently.

"Relax, Sonic. It's in the past," sighed Shadow, still smiling a bit, "and yes. That's how it happened."

"Three years?" whispered Sonic, incredulously.

"It was more the lack of information than anything else. If you were alive, sure, we could laugh this off. We could forget about it. If you were dead… I would mourn. And then I would probably cope. I don't know. I'm glad you're not dead."

Sonic's thoughts were interrupted by the return of the waiter. He set down the burger Sonic ordered and went over to his next table. Sonic dug in. Shadow sipped at his water and sneaked a few fries. This composed the next ten minutes. Soon Sonic's plate was clean and he finished up his paper-folding project.

"You want dessert, Shadow? Here," Sonic handed the envelope and paper flower to Shadow as the waiter came back with the same question.

"No thanks." Shadow examined the flower and carefully opened the envelope, "I didn't know you did origami, Sonic."

"Something I picked up in Chun Nan," he replied, getting up to pay at the cash register.

* * *

Shadow unfolded the tissue that had been inside the envelope.

"I love you" were the words that Sonic had written in small letters in the middle of the napkin. There were two stick figures at the bottom of the page; a clear representation of herself and Sonic. They were in neutral poses, standing apart, but still smiling. Nothing fancy.

* * *

'What'd you write, Casanova; 'be mine, Valentine?' joked Uncharted Territory as Sonic paid the bill.

'Shut up. I didn't put anything special in there! …Nothing _new_, anyhow,' sighed Sonic, mentally.

'Oh, the whole 'I love you' thing? You know, if you're not careful he'll…' drifted Uncharted Territory as Sonic walked back toward the table.

'He'll what?' asked Sonic, stopping momentarily. Uncharted Territory slipped in front of him, oddly taller than before. And wearing different clothes.

'He's gonna fall for that lovin' shtick. Even if you don't really mean it!'

'You… You think he will? I sure hope not…'

'You say that, but I know better. You don't wanna break his heart, right?'

'This is Shadow the Hedgehog we're talking about, UT.'

'He's got feelings too; you should know! ...You of all people should know that.'

Sonic tried to shake off the worry, but it came back as he returned to the table to leave a tip. Shadow was smiling at him, standing up and putting the paper crafts into his hooded sweatshirt's pocket.

"Ready to go?" asked Shadow, his innocent question giving Sonic a chill.

Shadow the Hedgehog? Falling for him? It was a terrifying thought, but, something about it gave Sonic a strange feeling.

Much like a cross between hope and indigestion.


	26. Out and About

"I wanna go home," sighed Sonic; he and Shadow had been walking around town since one, after leaving Wolf's restaurant.

"It's only around three, Sonic. You really want to head home?"

"No, I just wanted the time," said Sonic, grinning. "Do I know you or what?"

Shadow sighed, smiling back and shaking her head. "You wish, Sonic."

"So, we left Red Plaza, we've been to Wolf's, and we've just walked the main tour loop."

Shadow looked up at the sky, continuing Sonic's observation. "Yesterday and the day before we visited the Redwoods National Park, the hospital on Tenth, and Eiglestein's Diner."

* * *

"What's left?" muttered Sonic, joining Shadow in cloud-watching.

Uncharted Territory walked up behind Sonic. 'Well, it's three, so nightclubs are out.'

'Don't you start,' thought Sonic, glancing down at where he expected him to be before slowly looking up to where he really was; 'you've… gotten taller.'

'These are definitely the tightest pants ever! And no idea how I'm wearing them. These gloves are pretty comfortable, though, dude.'

'Two pairs of earrings, too? Is your sense of style out of order?'

'Hey, my style is your style, pal!'

"I think that one looks like an octopus. Or a bear trap. What do you think?" interrupted Shadow, yet unaware of what she was interrupting.

"Um," replied Sonic, identifying the bear trap, but wondering how Shadow could think of a cloud resembling that. "It's a bear trap."

Shadow looked back down to eye level at Sonic, still smiling. "Well, my neck hurts, now… Wanna go small-store shopping?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow, looking back down to eye level at Shadow. "Where did you come up with that?"

"I don't know. Sometimes it's more fun. Fewer people around three on weekdays, you know? Picking up their kids at school."

'Kids, he says; think Shadow likes kids? I like kids; I think you do…' muttered Uncharted Territory reflectively, elbowing Sonic in the arm.

'Please, just be quiet?' mentally asked Sonic, before really saying: "Small-store shopping. Okay. Let's get started!"

* * *

Boy was Sonic in for it! Shadow grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the nearest secondhand store and first thing, bought a digital camera.

"Uh, Shadow, what's that for?" asked Sonic, innocently, as Shadow Emerald-charged the battery.

"You'll see," said Shadow, putting away the camera and pulling Sonic into the clothing section.

"Oh, boy," muttered Sonic, not… unenthused.

* * *

Leftover Christmas sweaters and holiday outfits just out of storage in time for Halloween were quickly searched through for the most gaudy and raffish of costumes to put on Sonic, and digital evidence of each transformation. Doctor, Dentist, Dracula; Spiderman, Superman, Skeleton. It was a fairly quick change back out of costume whenever someone entered the dressing area, thanks to Sonic's natural speed. Twelve pictures and it was on to the next store.

Sonic would never have agreed if he knew he was going to be playing dress-up. However, it was a pleasant surprise that Shadow, unlike anyone else, put him though the costumes as fast as possible, taking pictures of whatever looked good, instead of parading him around the dressing room to examine every detail. This he was thankful for. If he had been out with Amy, she would probably have done just that. And the best part was Shadow didn't make him buy anything to wear later, thereby implying that he was going to wear it later… That Amy…

Sonic shook his head as he pulled on some black pants to complete the bee costume. This was actually pretty fun. Shadow wasn't forcing him to try on anything objectionable, and he didn't get to wear clothes that often. If he ran with anything but shoes and gloves on, his clothes would probably tear off from air resistance or burn off from friction. The springy antennae were also pretty… cool? Sonic stepped out of the dressing room and let Shadow take a couple of pictures.

"What's the deal with bee costumes, anyhow?" asked Shadow, for no particular reason.

"Don't know. They make honey?" suggested Sonic, remembering something he'd seen on TV, "Well, the males protect the queen. All the workers are female."

"I did not know that," stated Shadow, taking one last picture of Sonic the Bee in a thinking pose before gesturing to two more costumes on the nearby bench.

"Well, we've got ninja and devil left for this store. What do you think?" he asked, looking at each one.

Sonic was curious. Uncharted Territory hadn't appeared in a long while, and, well, it was there…

"Devil," said Sonic, picking up the outfit and going back into the dressing room.

* * *

Shadow scrolled through the pictures they'd taken. She hadn't met many hedgehogs, but from what she'd seen, Sonic was practically a hedgehog Adonis. Even without comparing, Shadow considered him attractive. But getting him into a bee suit was a feat she was sure few could do. As for a devil costume… Shadow supposed it was ironic, considering that Sonic was a saint as far as she knew. She wouldn't say anything about it, though; it was Sonic's choice.

Speaking of, what was taking Sonic so long?

* * *

Uncharted Territory had a habit of showing up at the worst moments.

'Bro, nice suit; goin' to a party? You look awesome in red; told 'ya.'

'Not you again,' groaned Sonic, mentally, as he clipped on the tail and slipped on the headband.

'That costume was meant for a girl. This makes you a cross-dressing gay.'

'The tag says 'men's devil suit.' You said six words again… What's with-?'

'Cross-dressing is two hyphenated words, stupid.'

'Hey, if you're me, you're calling yourself stupid.'

'Don't try to psych me out, Sonic. I'm your subconscious; I can do… things.'

'And you call _me_ stupid, mister limited word-count.'

"Sonic? You okay in there?" asked Shadow, through the door.

"Just a minute!" called Sonic, turning back to Uncharted Territory. Hearing Shadow made him think again.

'Listen. I know you're my inner… whatever you are,' thought Sonic, 'but I can work this out myself. I'm not gay, so stop trying to tell me I am. I can do without you.'

Uncharted Territory was quiet, until he finally crossed his arms and spoke.

'You are making a bad choice, Sonic. I should know; I'm Bad Choice King. You won't be getting rid of me.'

Sonic shook his head and stepped out of the dressing room.

"You look… red," commented Shadow.

"Not exactly me, is it," sighed Sonic. "Can I get some help out this thing?"

"Sure," said Shadow, pulling off the headband with horns on it and setting it next to the ninja costume before helping Sonic with the tight shirt.

Trying not to tear the shirt on Sonic's quills, Shadow leaned in close to work the polyester around Sonic's spines, inadvertently murmuring:  
"This is… kinda' close…"

As soon as the shirt was clear, Sonic dashed into the dressing room to remove the rest of the costume. Uncharted Territory was waiting there for him.

'Was that awkward or did you like it? Your heart's going a mile a minute, dude. Something tells me you liked it a lot!'

'Eight,' sighed Sonic, hopelessly sinking against the wall of the dressing room, head in his hands.

* * *

Shadow put away the ninja costume. Something told her the party was over.


	27. Photograph

The street lights were coming on just as Sonic and Shadow left the clothes store.

"You want to go back to my place?" asked Shadow, as Sonic looked around vaguely, worriedly.

"Yeah," said Sonic quietly.

Shadow took Sonic's outstretched hand and started walking.

"Sonic, about earlier-?"

"I know. I'm sorry. I was kind of freaking out."

"Is that it? Well, I… Hm. We can talk about this when we're back home, can't we?"

"Yeah, I guess. Why?"

"Don't wanna get lost in the city at night, that's why," laughed Shadow.

Sonic smiled a bit. Shadow knew he couldn't see her, but she smiled back.

* * *

Soon they were back at the apartment. Sonic didn't know what to say when Shadow opened the door and they walked in, besides:  
"So, are you making something for dinner or am I or are we ordering out or what?"

Shadow laughed, though Sonic wasn't entirely sure why. He was hungry.

"I'll make something, Sonic! Don't worry!"

Shadow went into the kitchen, leaving his camera and key on the coffee table. Sonic picked up the camera and turned it on, going to playback mode and flipping through some of the pictures. There were about fifty pictures, with two or three of each costume. There was Sonic. There he was again. And again.

Next time they went out, Sonic would have to get some pictures of Shadow.

Sonic stopped flipping through the pictures and considered that last thought. What if he had to leave? He couldn't always be with Shadow, just friends or not.  
Shadow would have all these pictures to remember him by. What would he have?

He would have a picture, too. He picked up the camera.

* * *

"Hey, Shadow! Smile!"

Shadow looked up, her expression reading more a bemused "What are you doing?" rather than a "Cheese."

Sonic snapped a picture before lowering the camera. He was grinning ear to ear, looking at the camera's screen before looking back up at Shadow.

"Thanks," said Sonic.

"What was that for?" asked Shadow, still smiling at Sonic.

"Just… For me," replied Sonic, heading back to the living room. Shadow shrugged. If Sonic wanted a picture, let him have one.

* * *

Sonic turned the TV on and looked back at the camera, flipping to the picture of Shadow. He smiled a little awkwardly, dressed casually and cooking something on the stove. In the picture, Shadow looked kind of domestic, homely. Sonic knew better. That spark in his eyes that only really came out in person was semi-present in this picture, though it was hard to make out due to the low picture quality. However, it was close enough for Sonic. Now, if only he could find a computer to get these printed…

* * *

"Hey, Shadow? Do you have a computer?"

"Yes. Do you need one?" asked Shadow, looking up from her cooking again.

"I just want to get these pictures printed," said Sonic, holding up the camera.

"Hope I've got a connector that'll match," muttered Shadow, shutting off the oven, "the camera didn't come with one."

"We'll find something," said Sonic, confidently.

Shadow led Sonic into his bedroom, flipping on the light. Sonic was in awe as Shadow went over to the computer and turned on the printer, searching through his desk drawers for a suitable connector. The walls were a pale gray-green and covered with animal calendars and post-its. The bed was small, but Shadow could probably be comfortable in it. The quilt coverings were cool colors to match the walls. The opposite side had the desk, which had the monitor, CPU, keyboard, and another TV on top of it, accompanied by a generic desk chair. Sonic wasn't one for interior design, but it struck him as appropriate, that Shadow had a style of his own.

"Hand me that camera, Sonic," said Shadow, Sonic complying. "Yes! I found a USB connector that fits! We'll have these printed in no time. How big do you want them?"

Sonic looked at Shadow, his attention being previously directed towards the calendar with the seahorses on it.

"Oh, you can have all the pictures of me in whatever size you want. I just want the picture of you in, let's make it wallet-size."

Shadow nodded, turning back to the computer. Sonic sat down on Shadow's bed. It was actually fairly comfortable. Almost as comfy as the couch. The printer started up as Sonic looked up at the ceiling.

When he did have that picture, where would he keep it? In his glove cuff, probably. It would fit, wallet-size. He could sort of imagine it. Out on the job, fighting Eggman or whoever, finding a small checkpoint or stopping place and taking out that picture. He looked back up at Shadow, his chest tightening.

* * *

"Here's your picture, Sonic," said Shadow, taking it out of the printer and carefully cutting it out of the larger page. She handed it to Sonic, who looked at it, his eyes shining in the light of the computer screen. He smiled.

"Thanks, Shadow."

"…You okay?" asked Shadow, softly.

"I'm fine," said Sonic, putting a hand on Shadow's shoulder and gently bumping heads with her. He held the picture between his thumb and ring finger and crossed his pointer and middle fingers. "I love you."

"I love you too, Sonic," she put her arm around the back of Sonic's neck and pulled him forwards, ruffling his quills with her free hand. "Now lighten up!"

"Okay, okay!" chuckled Sonic, pulling out of Shadow's grip. "Yes sir! Orders followed!" Sonic saluted awkwardly and stumbled out of the room as Shadow rolled her eyes and saved the pictures to her computer before shutting it off to finish cooking dinner.

* * *

Sonic munched his pancakes at the kitchen table because Shadow didn't want any syrup on the couch. He could hear something about dog breeds on the TV, as Shadow was out on the couch. Sonic ate in silence, alone with his thoughts. And Uncharted Territory.

'You still here?' asked Sonic, mentally. Uncharted Territory nodded. 'You… gonna say anything about earlier?' Uncharted Territory shook his head. Sonic raised an eyebrow. Uncharted Territory looked like he was pouting about something and didn't want to talk. 'You gonna say anything at all?'

'It hurts.'

Sonic was quiet. Two words. Earlier he'd been saying eight at a time, and that was an all-time high. '…What hurts?'

'Your love. Your love is my love. It hurts, the thought of leaving him. I don't want to leave him, and neither do you.'

Ten words. What was that all about? When he hit ten words, did he just stop making caring about it or what?

'True, we don't want to, but we'll probably have to. Sooner or later. Might as well make the most of our time together, though, right?'

Uncharted Territory looked at Sonic for a long moment. 'I need to do some soul-searching. I'll see you later, Sonic.'

And he was gone. Sonic turned back to his pancakes, but quickly looked up when he saw motion out of the corner of his eye.

It was Shadow, heading toward her bedroom. She had stopped, looking at him with a very worried expression.  
Then Sonic noticed the teardrop that had just made its way down to his chin and dropped onto the table.


	28. Sleep on it

Shadow was very quiet, her eyes on Sonic. If he was having a moment, she didn't want to interrupt. But he had seen her. He turned back to his dinner and shoved a forkful into his mouth with forced verve. Shadow was reluctant to leave, but she went into her bedroom anyways. Maybe he just needed a break.

* * *

Sonic swallowed his mouthful of pancake and stood up, leaving his half-eaten dinner in the refrigerator. He turned off the light and went to the couch, lying down on it. He'd try to explain things in the morning…

In the _morning_.

In the morning?

Sonic blinked, staring up at the ceiling. He officially couldn't sleep. Great. Sonic sat up. What now? Too dark to go anywhere. Too tired to really do anything. Didn't have to go to the bathroom. Shadow might be able to hear the TV if he turned it on… Maybe Shadow was still awake… and if so, maybe he'd like to talk?

Sonic quietly opened the door to Shadow's room and crept in, trying to be as stealthy as possible. No, Shadow wasn't awake; and therefore, probably not willing to talk. Sonic turned toward the door, not wanting to intrude; when his ears perked, hearing a soft sound from the bed.

"_Cat- a- …pult_."

Catapult? Sonic could only make out a few syllables from this distance. He sneaked closer, intending to hear more of Shadow's unconscious speak, but instead… tripping over the edge of the rug he hadn't noticed before and hitting the floor face-first. THUNK.

Sonic froze. Had he woken Shadow?

"_Mmn. Eye- gull- steen_."

Eiglestein. Shadow was still asleep. Sonic sighed in relief. He pushed himself back up and glanced around, suddenly unable to find his bearings in the dark room. What could he do? Wait until the sun came up? Sonic, in mild irritation, kicked out a little; lightly hitting what was most probably either the bed or the computer desk.

Instantaneously, the lights came on. Shadow's voice rang out in the previously quiet room.

"Hands up!"

Sonic did as he was told as Shadow came up to him.

"How did you get past- …Oops," said Shadow, walking around Sonic and taking a moment to recognize him. Her face darkened a bit.

"Hey…" said Sonic, blushing a little in response. "Couldn't sleep."

"Sonic, you… Sorry about that. Trouble sleeping?"

Sonic nodded. "Anything for it, doc?" he asked, making light of the situation.

Shadow took a moment to think. "Not sure. I could look something up on the computer, if you want."

"I guess," muttered Sonic, kicking at the carpet. He felt oddly disappointed.

Shadow took his hand. "Come on."

* * *

Shadow opened her closet and reached up toward the higher shelf, coming only a few inches short.

"There's a blanket up there," she sighed, giving up. "Let me get a stool or something to stand on. Be right ba-"

Sonic reached up and effortlessly grabbed the blanket, taking it back down to Shadow's level.

"Oh," said Shadow, barely comprehending Sonic's height. He was right. It was kind of hard to accept change.

Shadow led Sonic over to the couch in the living room. "Okay, lie down."

Sonic followed directions and Shadow unfolded the blanket, laying it on top of Sonic.

"I don't know much about sleeping problems, but I've got three things that work for me every time."

* * *

"Fire away," said Sonic, scooting under the covers and getting comfortable.

"The first thing is eat something. Did you finish those pancakes?"

"Yes…" Sonic lied. He didn't feel hungry anyways.

"Okay then, the second thing is holding something warm. I usually have my pillow, but a hot water bottle or an electric blanket shoved into a pillowcase work well enough, too. I think I've got an extra pillow somewhere. There's a hot water bottle in the bathroom, too. I wouldn't recommend the electric blanket thing. Fire hazard. So, any thoughts or opinions on that?"

'You're warm, aren't you?' thought Sonic, expecting Uncharted Territory to show up and laugh. No… That thought was all him. Sonic was a little shocked at his own mental forwardness. Maybe UT was rubbing off on him.

"Not really," he said aloud, looking somewhat hopefully at Shadow. "What's the third thing?"

"That's watching TV," said Shadow, picking up the television remote.

Sonic pulled his feet up and wrapped the blanket around himself, gesturing for Shadow to sit down as Shadow flipped the set on.

"Animal channel? They've got a show about… Cats, I think."

Shadow sat next to Sonic as kittens frolicked about the screen while an announcer talked about how they were the little household wildcats.

* * *

They watched television for an hour and a half. It was now almost midnight and Sonic didn't appear to be content with sitting around. The longer he was awake, the more paranoid he seemed. The closer he moved toward Shadow. She noticed this and shut off the TV. Sonic was stunned for a moment, frantically looking around- where had his light gone? Sonic called her name, his sleepless mind only finding relief in Shadow's touch as she took his hand.

"I'm here. Relax," said Shadow, getting up and helping Sonic lie down; making sure he was covered by the blanket.

Sonic whimpered as she let go of his hand. Shadow looked down at his wide, unseeing eyes and was thankful for her human-sized couch as she climbed under the blankets with him. Sonic sighed softly and closed his eyes, falling asleep immediately.

Things that work for Sonic, number one; thought Shadow, falling asleep, as well.

* * *

Sonic's brain tried to make up for lost time. His dream was only a highlight reel; a sort of film preview but for a dream he'd never had before. It probably didn't mean anything, though. He'd never really had any foreboding dreams, and this didn't seem like one…

Sonic woke up, finding the living room illuminated by streams of sunlight through the window.

His arms were around Shadow's waist, and neither of the hedgehogs seemed to mind.


	29. Uncharted Territory

Shadow woke up confused. Whose house was this? Whose _couch_ was this? How late in the morning, _or afternoon_, was it?

Shadow looked around a bit, not recognizing what was going on before a rush of warm air blew past her ear. She tensed. Her quills rising, she slowly turned to the person behind her, worried and wondering who this person was, and what she had been drinking last night.

"Morning, Shadow."

Shadow sighed in relief, coming face-to-face with Sonic the Hedgehog, a familiar face, before her quills tensed again.

"…What's up?" asked Sonic, retracting his hands from around Shadow's waist.

Shadow reached under the blanket and momentarily tugged at the waistband of her pants, then relaxed again.

"Nothing," Shadow replied, scooting out from under the blanket they were sharing. "Do you want anything for breakfast?"

Sonic's quills and ears perked at this. "Um, don't worry, I'll make breakfast today!"

Sonic jumped up and tossed the blanket back on the couch, dashing into the kitchen and showing off his speed. Shadow shrugged and looked around again, suddenly recognizing the living room as her own. She began to laugh.

Sonic leaned out of the kitchen, a raised eyebrow his only question.

"It's- It's nothing," snickered Shadow, trying to catch her breath. Sonic leaned back into the kitchen as slowly as possible, expression maintained.

Last night came back to Shadow more quickly than she'd expected, as she turned on the TV to see last night's rerun of the Animal Channel's cat show. It was probably how late she'd stayed up, combined with how she hadn't slept in her own bed that caused the memory delay.

Sonic leaned out of the kitchen again. "Do you like toast?"

Shadow rolled her eyes. "Yes...?"

Sonic didn't respond, but he disappeared into the kitchen as the commercial break ended on the TV.

* * *

Carefully, silently, Sonic placed the plate that once held last night's pancakes in the sink before the Shadow's toast popped up. It was quickly becoming awkward in his mind, the thought of waking up with Shadow. He set Shadow's toast on a plate and looked through the cabinets for jelly or butter or something to put on them, giving up before finding both in the refrigerator.

'That's some strange organization, keeping jelly in the fridge?' asked Uncharted Territory, an odd lisp replacing his usual elocution. 'He's hot, but weird; y'know what I mean?'

Sonic turned toward him, taking the jelly out of the fridge. 'What… Just because we keep jelly in the cabinet doesn't mean Shadow's… What's with the look?'

Uncharted Territory leaned back in his chair, his feet up on the table, red leather-coated ankles neatly crossed. He frowned, new lip and eyebrow piercings reflecting the light from the window. His glare showed off the new bruise forming under his eye, still ruddy, as though he'd just been hit. His arms were crossed, his left coated with bangles and beads from the elbow-down, his right had a rainbow arm band around his humerus.

'I went soul-searching last night,' said Uncharted Territory, somewhat angrily. 'Seems your inner demons don't take kindly to queers.'

Sonic put jelly on Shadow's toast. 'You don't seem like a bad person to me. –I mean, you don't seem like a- I- Um, you-?'

Uncharted Territory rolled his eyes. 'I know what you mean, Sonic. Chill out.'

Sonic finished preparing the toast and looked at Uncharted Territory, a little sympathetically toward him, as well as a little guiltily.

'Don't look at me like that!' laughed Uncharted Territory, a bit sadly. 'You ain't like that! They're just meanies 'cuz you beat them so early on. If I was braver, I woulda' gone to the higher-ups, to the Virtues, but… I mean, I'm… I'm your soul's incarnation of lust! What would they have done to me?'

Sonic glanced at the floor a moment before looking back up at Uncharted Territory. 'Maybe you _should _go to them.'

Uncharted Territory was stunned. 'Are you nuts?'

'No,' thought Sonic, 'I think they might be forgiving. Merciful. If I was part of a group referred to as 'the Virtues' I probably would be like that.'

The demon thought, putting his feet back on the floor. 'Considering they're _your_ Virtues… If you'd act like that, so would they.'

Sonic looked down at the grape-jelly-smeared, over-heated bread. 'What do _you_ want, UT?'

'What do _I _want?' asked Uncharted Territory, standing up and walking over to Sonic. 'What do you mean, what do _I_ want?'

'I know _I_… I mean, I _like _Shadow, _that's all I'm saying_, but what do _you_-?'

'I get you, Sonic. You want to know some of the secrets of the world, don't you? Well, I can't say everything, but _I want _to do my job_ right_.'

'What's your…?' Sonic was about to ask, but Uncharted Territory waggled a finger.

'Sorry, bro. Bit of a rule break if I give that away. But I think I can tell you it's not entirely about sex.'

'That's a relief,' thought Sonic, turning away and heading into the living room to deliver the long-awaited crunchy, grapey bread to its rightful owner.

* * *

Shadow quietly chewed her toast as Sonic watched Puppies on Parade and 'awwed' at a couple of the breeds.

"Whippets and Greyhounds?" asked Shadow, to Sonic's unusual taste in dogs. "Never thought you'd be a skinny-dog guy, Sonic."

Sonic raised an eyebrow at this. "What kind of dogs did you think I'd like?"

"I don't know. Labradors? Golden Retrievers? Maybe German Shepherds?"

"You know, a lot of people look like the dogs they own. Maybe that's it."

Shadow looked at Sonic. He did have a thin physique, short, close-lying fur, and sort of a long muzzle for a hedgehog. He did look kind of like a greyhound; of course, considering greyhounds were the fastest dog breed, with whippets a close second, didn't subtract anything from the similarities. Sonic smiled at Shadow, her mental image of a big blue dog sitting next to her faded.

"What breeds do you like, Shadow?"

Shadow thought a bit. She liked smaller dogs, but that was in caring for them. If she could have any dog she wanted…

"Rottweiler."

Sonic laughed at Shadow's choice, shaking his head before turning back toward Shadow, who had prepared her most terrifying glare just for this moment.

"I never said Rottweiler was a bad choice, I just- It's, um. It reflects you a little more… uncannily than I expected you to- I mean…"

Shadow lay off the glare, smiling a bit and raising her eyebrows as Sonic's reaction. "I get you, Sonic," she reassured, taking her plate to the kitchen. "Chill out."

* * *

Sonic sank down in the couch, watching Shadow go to her bedroom to change into her day clothes.

'Like to get in on that action, wouldn't you?' asked Uncharted Territory, leaning over Sonic's shoulder.

'Um. Did you do that- ah- thing you were gonna-?' asked Sonic, a little thrown by Uncharted Territory's suggestion.

'Yeah, they said keep on keepin' on. But it's true, isn't it? I mean, you ain't seen him in the buff since he got all that fluff, eh?'

'Clever, and I'm not interested,' said Sonic, shooting down Uncharted Territory's thought.

'Not a chubby chaser, huh?' Sonic raised an eyebrow at this, as Uncharted Territory leaned against his right hand, a ring evident on the ring finger.

'Shadow's not chubby,' thought Sonic, perplexed.

Uncharted Territory shrugged, and disappeared as Shadow returned to the living room in a green t-shirt and blue jeans, also wearing a pair of Chuck Taylors. Sonic was a little impressed as he tugged on a dark green jacket and opened the door.

"Coming with?" he asked, gesturing toward the open hallway.

Sonic jumped up, not sure where they were headed, but hey, surprises were good.


	30. The Public Library

Huh. Public library. Not what Sonic expected. However, Shadow had already found a book and settled into a reading chair, so he might as well try to find something interesting. They had some magazines, after all.

* * *

Shadow watched Sonic go over to the magazine section. She'd been meaning to finish this book for awhile now, but more recently she'd had to leave books for real life excitement, like… Sonic. Shadow's cheeks darkened a bit at the thought. It really was Sonic who drew her away from books, wasn't it? Of course, Sonic was excitement incarnate; even sitting around, watching TV with him was fun. But that was probably just her.

"Chicken Soup for the soul, eh? Never thought you'd be one for anecdotes, Hedgehog."

Shadow looked up, a little surprised by the arrival of a man she didn't quite recognize.

"Oh, hi… Mr.…?"

"Zander. Ben Zander."

"Right, sorry. Bad with names."

"Especially when drunk, right?" laughed Mr. Zander. "Hey I saw you at the thing yesterday. At the mall."

"You were there?" asked Shadow, confused by this man's approach. Were they old friends? Acquaintances? He didn't look familiar.

"Yeah, my brother made me go. Alex Zander? You know him?"

Shadow's eyebrows rose. "Yes, I do know him! You're brothers? I never would have guessed!"

"We don't look much alike," said the man, sitting down on the circular couch next to Shadow. "I think we might have met at Nat's. Over on Fifth?"

Nat's? On Fifth street, there were only a couple of grocery stores and a bar. Nathanial's Bar, which Shadow had been to only once. _Nobody_ called it "Nat's".

"I'm not sure," said Shadow, deciding that this man must have seen her there and at the mall and was kind of happy to see her. Why, she had no idea, but he seemed nice enough. "Do you… frequent… _Nat's_?"

"Some days. I don't live around here, so I don't come in that often. However, my brother's very needy about blah _blah_ blahdy blah _blah_…"

Shadow retreated to her thoughts. Nobody called Nathanial's Bar "Nat's", nobody admits they "don't live around here" if they're not obviously tourists, and nobody talks about their homosexual brother to somebody they just met. Added to the fact that he was getting uncomfortably close on the couch, Ben Zander was now officially creepy. Shadow looked around, a bit desperately, to escape this man whose breath she could now smell. To her great relief, Sonic was coming their way right then; officially her knight in shining armor.

* * *

Sonic gave the stranger a look. "Excuse me, but I believe you're in my spot."

The man looked back at him; a bit of a sneer as well as a head-tilt suggested something wasn't right about this man. Let alone the fact that he was practically squishing Shadow against the arm of the couch. Sonic maintained his stature as the man stood and leaned into his face.

"What do you want?" asked the man, still all up in Sonic's grill with that obvious piece of spinach, _or whatever it was_, in his teeth.

Sonic glanced at Shadow, who was quickly making a silent getaway, before glancing around to his other side to throw the man off. He was moderately successful, the man was confused and he stood there for a minute or two as Shadow effectively escaped to the children's section.

"Nothing, really," said Sonic, zipping away in the opposite direction, only turning back when he reached the video section, to find the man whirling around to find either of them. He looked awfully mad.

'Did you see that guy? Goodness gracious, what terrible taste in clothing. He also really needs to brush his teeth. Did you see that- _that thing_? _In between the front two_? _Eauugh_!'

Uncharted Territory resumed his habit of bad timing as Sonic was distracted long enough for the strange man to see him. Of course, it wasn't too hard to spot a blue hedgehog through a bunch of DVD clear cases. Sonic turned and dashed to the reference section as the man almost caught up. This was too easy.

* * *

The children's section was color-coded. Red-labeled books were early reading: ABCs, 123s, etc. Blue-labeled books were intermediate reading: full sentences, actual stories, some grammar lessons. Yellow-labeled books were chapter books with easy stories and vocabulary lessons. Shadow momentarily wondered the organization of the colors; Red-Blue-Yellow, not Red-Yellow-Blue or Red-Yellow-Green or something more normal-color-ordered, until she saw the cardboard cutouts of Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails next to colored posters for parents to read about what their child was learning from that particular set of books. Well that was an interesting way of advertising literacy; compare your child's intelligence level to the levels of your favorite heroes! Shadow laughed a bit, looking around at the reading levels of some of the children when a familiar face started tugging her tail.

"Shadow!" he exclaimed, recognizing his acquaintance from months past. Shadow brightened up.

"Steven! It's nice to see you again! How are you doing?"

"I'm great!" exclaimed the boy, holding up a copy of Thomas the Tank Engine "Look what book Mommy got me!"

"She got you Thomas? I'm so jealous!" Shadow gushed, glancing at the blue label. Sonic-level.

"I'm getting this because I'm the best reader in my whole kindergarten!" he boasted, turning the binding with the label to Shadow. "I'm blue, see?"

"I see!" said Shadow, still beaming at Steven. She could see his mother talking to another lady nearby, but not near enough if she didn't want Shadow talking to her son.

"I'm like Sonic," said Steven., before changing the subject abruptly. "I saw you with Sonic the other day, downtown. Were you going to the party?"

"The party? What party?" asked Shadow, attention returning to Steven.

"They party at the mall, with all the color people."

"Color people?" asked Shadow, wondering when, where, and how this boy could have seen them going to a color people party at the mall.

"You know, the color people. They wear colors? Red and orange and green and blue and purple? They wear the colors all at once. My uncle is a color person. My daddy took him to the party. Did you go to the party with Sonic?"

Shadow scratched her head, a little embarrassed of the fact. "Actually, yes, but we didn't mean to. It was on accident."

"Oh. I do a lot of things on accident, too," said Steven, dropping the subject. He opened his book. "What's a co-al bin?"

* * *

Sonic had been taunting this man for far too long, but it was worth every minute. Every time he got close, Sonic would escape in another direction, watching the man's face get more and more red. However, it was getting old, and Sonic decided to let himself get caught, right in front of the checkout. The man stopped in front of him, out of breath, red-in-the-face, and not at all happy. He growled in anger at Sonic, as menacing a roar as a human could produce, getting the attention of several others as well as the ladies behind the checkout desks, their cell phones prepared to call in a 911 emergency.

Sonic raised a finger to his lips. "Shh! There are people reading."

The man realized where he was, looking up and around, his face paled. Sonic dashed over toward the Children's section while he was distracted; not looking back though he would have loved to see the stranger's face upon finding he was again left in the dust.

* * *

Steven was reading the book aloud to Shadow, sitting on her lap, as several other children circled around to listen. Shadow would help with some of the words he didn't know, but aside from that, it was quite easy for him. He finished the book and closed it, looking around at the other children.

"Wanna hear it again?" he asked cheerfully as a couple of the listeners raised their hands and more nodded their heads.

Steven hopped off of Shadow's lap and opened the book again, starting to read.

Shadow stood up and stretched her legs, interrupted by Steven's mother, who took her aside. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean?" asked Shadow, worried that she might have struck a nerve.

"My son _never _reads in public," said the mother, her smile proving Shadow's fear wrong. "How did you get him to do that?"

Shadow glanced at Steven. "That's strange; he's really enthusiastic about reading. I guess he just didn't know he _could_ read out loud."

The lady raised an eyebrow. "He didn't… know?"

"He is a good reader, he knows the material, but does he read out loud or silently?"

"Silently, usually. I mean, I do like to hear him talk, but sometimes I just ask him to keep it quiet for me…"

"I understand," said Shadow, thoughtfully. "There's a communication barrier between children and their parents. I think he might have thought you meant keep quiet all the time, and that reading aloud either wasn't good or was entirely impossible."

The woman nodded, turning from her son to Shadow. "I'm Elizabeth. Elizabeth Williams."

"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh! _You're_ Shadow? I'm so sorry, I didn't, I mean-… Steven is _such_ a big fan!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She had fans?

"Actually, I thought you were his imaginary friend! He talks about you all the time, saying he saw you on television or in the newspaper. Sometimes he draws pictures, but I guess I never really could make them out very well. He really likes you, though."

Shadow smiled at Mrs. Williams. "Well, I'm glad your son sees me as a suitable role model."

"Hey, Shadow!"

Shadow looked up, as did Mrs. Williams and most of the children in the area. Sonic the Hedgehog had just entered the Children's section.

"I finally lost that creepy guy in the Earth Keepers. You wanna keep hidin' out, here or what?"

Steven, as well as the rest of the grade-schoolers, slowly went to their parents; whispers of "It's Sonic" filled the air.

"My ex-husband wears Earth Keepers," muttered Mrs. Williams, as Steven tugged on her skirt.

"Mommy, it's Sonic," he said, reverently, his eyes shining.

Shadow sighed, rolling her eyes and gesturing for Sonic to come over to them.

"What?" asked Sonic, upon reaching proper library hearing range.

"Wouldn't you like to read a few books with these kids before we go?"


	31. EarthKeepers?

Shadow kept an eye on the entrance to the children's section. Would Mr. Zander think to look here? She couldn't help but wonder what his problem was. He hadn't appeared strange at first glance, but then, "You can't judge a book…"

Speaking of, how did Sonic recognize his brand of shoes? "I finally lost that creepy guy in the Earth Keepers…"

Sonic himself wore only one brand of shoe that Shadow knew of, and she didn't know the name; but if anyone were to have an extensive knowledge of shoe brands, she guessed it would be Sonic. She looked over at him as he read a Yellow-label "Cam Jansen" chapter book to the surrounding children. Sonic did make a good role model, despite his occasional silliness and, more recently, enigmatic behavior. Shadow raised an eyebrow and tilted her head as Sonic turned to Steven to ask how to pronounce the word "photograph." Maybe those labels were a little more accurate than she thought…

Shadow tried to go back to reading her book, but Mrs. Williams tapped her on the shoulder. She kept her eyes on Sonic and leaned in to whisper to Shadow.

"Is that that superhero guy? That Sonic?"

Shadow nodded.

"Are you two… y'know. Together?"

Shadow shook her head.

"Oh, good. I was hoping, I mean… Well, I don't want Steven growing up like his uncle…"

"His uncle? The 'color person?' I mean, the-."

"Yes, the homosexual." Shadow's attempts to tread lightly on the subject were thwarted by Mrs. William's honesty.

To which Shadow responded: "Actually, if we were together it wouldn't be… _that_. I mean, I may not look like it, but I _am_ female. Long story."

Mrs. Williams tilted her head in confusion. "Oh," she said simply, looking back towards Sonic, who still obliviously read his story.

Shadow heard a sound from the door, and realized too late that it was open; Ben Zander leaning in the doorway and looking in with an eerie smile.

Elizabeth heard Shadow gasp and looked toward the door, not expecting to see her ex-husband there.

"Ben?" she exclaimed, her hand in her purse to speed-dial 911. "What are you doing here?"

She stepped forward, between him and the younger occupants of the room. He began to sweet-talk her.

"Lizzie! Baby! Didn't expect you to be here! How's little… Uh…"

"He's fine," she said, as concisely as possible. "What are you doing here? I know you're not here to read."

"I'm on the rebound!" he defended, nonchalance dripping from his gesturing sleeves. "I happen to like book-y girls, so what?"

Sirens sounded outside. An increase in the volume of footsteps out in the library atrium caught Ben's attention.

Shadow had slipped out of Ben's view and warned Sonic to speed it up a bit. The noise from outside caught Ben's attention and Shadow saw an opening for mild vengeance which she could see no regretting.

Shadow jumped up and shoved Ben Zander out the door of the Children's Section and into the waiting arms of the police.

Officer Beat was glad to see some action. Most of his job was computers, but when he got out on the streets, life was good. Today's call was from a lady who'd recently divorced her husband, the court having decided he was dangerous. His name was Ben Zander, and it had never felt better to be the deep-voiced man who came up behind the criminal, said his name, and when he reacted, told him he was under arrest. Brilliant.

Sonic finished up the story and turned to Shadow. "Okay, we're done. What was it you wanted?"

Shadow sighed and shook her head, nodding towards the door. "I think it's time we left."

"Oh," said Sonic, looking a little disappointed. The surrounding children shared his sentiments.

"We can come back some other time, okay?" said Shadow, "but right now, say goodbye. We've got other things to do, today."

Sonic stood up from his comfy spot on the floor and stretched a bit, smiling at the youth of Redwood Park.

"All right guys, we've got to go. But we'll see you around, okay? Keep reading!"

The children cheered, wholeheartedly agreeing with Sonic's somewhat corny sentiment. Sonic turned toward the door, stopping a moment to wait for Shadow, who was saying goodbye to Steven.

"It was nice seeing you again, Steven," said Shadow as the boy handed his selection on trains to his mother in order to give Shadow a hug.

"Bye, Shadow," he said, smiling. "I can't wait until I get to read like you."

"What do you mean?" asked Shadow, as Steven reclaimed his book from Mrs. Williams.

"You know! The black books? I wanna read like you!"

Shadow smiled, although she didn't entirely understand. "I'm happy that you do. Goodbye Steven. See you later."

The boy and his mother waved as Sonic and Shadow returned to the atrium of the library. The police had come and gone, and Ben Zander had gone with them. Sonic waited patiently by the door as Shadow put away her book. Her thoughts drifted back to a previous process, about Sonic's no-doubt eventual departure from her life. "Chicken Soup for the Soul" could wait until then.

As she returned the book to its proper place, she noticed the difference in labels between the children's books and the adult's books. The labels on the adult's books were black. Shadow-level.

She smiled at the strange coincidence and rejoined Sonic at the exit; the two of them deciding to decide on what to do for the rest of the day.


	32. I don't think he likes you

It was rather late for lunch, but Sonic insisted that food was required, the sooner the better.

"Come on, Shadow! I'm starving to death over here!" he whined, making puppy eyes and kicking at rocks on the sidewalk.

Shadow sighed, shaking his head and looking around at the surrounding stores. "What are you hungry for?"

"Um…" Sonic took a moment to think, glancing at a relatively theme-less pizza place. "How about pizza?"

Shrugging, Shadow crossed the street in front of Sonic, whose eyes boredly drifted towards Shadow's green sweatshirt. Why was Shadow wearing clothes, anyhow? Guys didn't normally wear more than shoes and gloves, and that was just tradition. Maybe he was self-conscious, but why? And why green?

Shadow turned and looked at Sonic, eyebrow raised. Cars honked.

"Might want to get out of the road, Sonic!" she called, the aforementioned hedgehog staring dumbly at her before finally getting a move-on. Shadow laughed. "What's up with you, anyways? It's practically every time we talk that you mention food!"

Sonic shrugged as they walked into the pizza parlor. "I guess I'm just a big eater. What kind of pizza do you want?"

"I'm not hungry. However, I may cadge off of whatever kind you get."

"Cadge?" asked Sonic, the two of them getting in line for the register.

"It means mooch. Or steal. Whichever," said Shadow, the line growing shorter as they approached the cashier.

"Some vocabulary you've got, there," joked Sonic, ordering a table for two and a large supreme pizza to be delivered to it.

Shadow shrugged, smiling. Sonic was simply pleasant to be around. If only all of life were so simple.

Sonic drummed his fingers against the booth's table as he awaited the impending pizza.

"What's taking them?" he asked, agitatedly slurping his already-nearly-empty soda.

"Hey, Sonic?" said Shadow, carefully unwrapping a straw so that the wrapper crumpled. She set the crumpled wrapper on the table before taking the unwrapped straw and dipping in her water. Sonic stared, confused, as she held her fingertip against the end of the straw, removed it from the water, and relaxed her finger while the straw tip was over the crumpled wrapper. The water from inside the straw was released and soaked the wrapper, causing it to unwrinkle and writhe as if a living thing.

"Whoa! How did you-? What-?"

Shadow smiled. "Try it when you get a refill."

However, the pizza arrived before then, and Sonic eagerly dug in, watching Shadow clean up the remains of the "living straw wrapper". That was a pretty interesting trick, Sonic had to admit, but his attention eventually returned to the question of Shadow's attire.

He was tempted to mention it, but he didn't want to offend Shadow. It was personal, so Sonic attempted to drop the thought, but it was still a mystery to him.

Sonic's attention snapped back upwards when he realized that Shadow was staring at him.

"What?" asked Sonic, quickly taking a bite of pizza as a cover. Shadow still stared, a bit of a confused glare, from Sonic's standpoint. It was moments like this he wished he could read minds.

Shadow didn't know how to react. A few minutes ago, Shadow had been looking between Sonic eating and the décor of the restaurant. Then Sonic had stopped eating and started staring. At Shadow's chest. Yet there was nothing there to look at! She was just wearing a plain, green hooded sweatshirt; no decals, no markings, no excuse there. She was somewhat happy to say she had nothing overt in the front, as other women did, so that was out…

"What were you staring at?" asked Shadow, her arms now crossed over her chest, to prevent further examination.

"Why do you wear clothes?" asked Sonic, a little too quickly. He gasped at his own response and choked on his pizza a moment before downing the last of his soda to recover.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Because it gets cold sometimes in Redwood Park. Why?"

Sonic seemed stunned at so simple an answer. "I was just spacing out, I guess," he muttered, in answer to Shadow's original question.

Shadow smiled a bit, waving it off with a joking "Finish your pizza" to Sonic. Sonic grinned sheepishly, and complied.

'Crisis averted,' sighed Uncharted Territory, sliding into the booth next to Sonic.

'What do you mean?' thought Sonic, still munching on his pizza as Shadow took out his newly-charged phone.

'Well, he seemed a little irritated that you were staring,' muttered Uncharted Territory, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing, his skin-tight leather pants squeaking against the shiny red seats.

Sonic looked back up at Shadow, who was tapping away at his journal and occasionally glancing around the restaurant or out the window. 'Seems okay to me,' he figured, leaning back in agreement with Uncharted Territory, who paused a moment to adjust one of his bangles.

'Speaking of which,' muttered Uncharted Territory, an odd look in his eye. "So, Shadow… We doin' anything tonight?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow, confused. Uncharted Territory? Addressing Shadow? What was he-?

"I didn't have anything planned. You want to do something?"

Sonic was aghast. 'Please, please don't do that again,' thought Sonic, terrified.

'What?' asked Uncharted Territory, just as laid-back as ever, 'you said it.'

"Did I say that out loud?" asked Sonic, to try to confirm his sanity or lack thereof.

"Say what out loud?" asked Shadow, looking up from his phone.

Sonic stuttered, eventually just giving up and going back to eating, leaving Shadow very confused.

"There's a movie theatre in town. Anything you wanted to see?" suggested Shadow, intent on lessening Sonic's awkwardness.

"I don't know. What's on?" replied Sonic, between bites of pizza crust. He froze up again after saying so, almost as if embarrassed.

"That one movie based on that kid's show is out. It's supposed to be PG-13 though. Don't know how that works."

"I saw some posters for that one," said Sonic, setting down his pizza for a minute. "It looks pretty good. How much are tickets?"

"I'll buy," offered Shadow, a couple of movie tickets well within her budget. Sonic thought a moment, and nodded.

"As long as I buy popcorn. You got to have popcorn."

Shadow smiled a bit, glad to have loosened Sonic up a bit.

There it was again, she noticed; that strange idea: loosening Sonic up; cheering him up; making him relax. What was making him so uptight in the first place?

Uncharted Territory elbowed Sonic in the side. 'Get a seat in the back; it's the best make out spot.'

Sonic shook his head briefly, standing next to Shadow in line for movie tickets.

Shadow noticed and nudged Sonic's arm. "You okay, Sonic?"

"Yeah; just spacing out again. Sorry."

Shadow smiled and sighed. "At least try to focus on the movie, okay?"

"Okay," said Sonic, rather seriously in response to her joking tone.

"It was a joke, Sonic."

"Oh."

Shadow absently munched his popcorn as Sonic watched him rather than the movie.

"Sonic, why have you been so spacey lately?"

"Huh?" responded Sonic, as Shadow looked up from the film to view him instead.

"I don't know. I think we're doing something fun and then you just clam up and things get …gauche."

"Gauche?"

"Unsettling. Uncomfortable? Awkward, I guess. Gauche."

'I don't think he likes you,' thought Sonic, toward Uncharted Territory, who sat in the row behind them. Uncharted Territory stuck his tongue out, apathetically.

"I don't know, Shadow. It's kind of hard to explain."

Shadow smiled. "The weird problems are the best ones. Try me."

'Well, my inner demon of lust has appeared in my head and wants us to hook up. What can I do?' jawed Uncharted Territory, as unsympathetic as they come.

"Well," started Sonic, "I'm on call, you know. Something cataclysmic could happen and I would have to go to the other side of the world or something at any time! And we're having fun and it feels like… I mean, I'm gonna miss it when I'm gone. Fighting bad guys and stuff is fun and all, but…I'll… Miss you."


	33. NOT GAY

'Whoa, whoa, hang on. I missed it. What did you just say?' exclaimed Uncharted Territory, nearly falling out of his seat.

Shadow smiled, shuffling in her seat as the Oscar-Bait theme-song-of-the-movie helped Sonic realize what he'd just said.

"It's not like I'm not going to be here when you get back, you know?" she said, crossing her fingers.

'I'm lost! Hello? Hey, update here! What?' Uncharted Territory leaned over the back of the seats, attempting to get a better view of the two.

Sonic smiled a bit, slightly reassured by Shadow's response before his worries acted up again.

"But, what if I _don't_ come back? I mean, what if-?"

Shadow tapped Sonic's shoulder, redirecting his attention to the screen.

"_You talk too much," said the heroine, pulling the hero into a kiss. The young hero was shocked at first, but slowly relaxed, quite enjoying it._

'Hello? Hey- Earth to Sonic! Is what's happening what I think is happening?'

Sonic ignored the demon, wondering which part of that scene that Shadow was trying to draw his attention to: the shut-up or the kiss.

"Okay, you don't _talk _too much," Shadow said, stealing some of Sonic's popcorn. "I haven't seen this movie before, but you have to admit it was either going to be 'you _talk_ too much' or 'you _worry_ too much.' Action movies are pretty predictable."

Sonic smiled a bit. 'What do I have to worry about, anyway?' he thought, watching Shadow's playful expression as he turned back to the movie. 'I can take care of myself. Heck, I'll be back before Shadow even realizes I'm gone!'

'Excuse me, little annoying demon here! THIS IS A ROMANTIC MOMENT. WHERE AM I?'

'Pay more attention next time,' advised Sonic, mentally, both hedgehog and demon taking into account the glowing rainbow on Uncharted Territory's shirt decal.

'So there'll be a next time, huh?' mumbled the spirit, leaning back into his seat. 'I'm taking that as a promise and holding you to it, 'Mister Honesty.''

Was it really that much of a romantic moment, anyway? Sonic watched some more of the movie. Now the heroine was actually being kidnapped by the villain, too bad for being a hardcore action chick.

* * *

Shadow glanced at Sonic before glancing back at the rows behind them. Empty. She leaned toward Sonic, settling her arm next to his on the cup-holder-rest between them; their hands overlapping slightly. She knew that they would probably leave knowing only half the plot of the movie anyway…

* * *

It was around four in the afternoon as Rouge glanced out the window and happened to see Sonic and Shadow leaving the movie theater on the opposite side of the road. So they were back in the city. Why were they back in the city? Opening her window, she decided to investigate.

* * *

"So do you want to go back to the apartment or is there anything else you wanted to do?" asked Shadow, before looking up at Sonic, who had tapped her shoulder.

Shadow glanced at Sonic before he directed her attention to the bat who had just landed some distance in front of them. Shadow smiled.

"Rouge!" exclaimed the black hedgehog, uncharacteristically enthusiastic. "How long has it been? You've… gotten taller."

Rouge smiled. "Hello, Shadow. Sonic. I trust you two cleaned up that mess at the hospital?"

"You heard about that?" asked Shadow, laughing a little.

"With these ears, Honey, I hear everything. You two seem to be getting along rather well. How have you been doing?"

"We've been doing well," said Sonic, "except for; you know, the thing at the hospital," he began.

"And the getting lost in the woods," continued Shadow.

"And the hedgehog-eating kudzu," "And the LGBT-Con at the mall," "And the stalker at the Library…"

* * *

"You sure have been busy," laughed Rouge, relaxing a bit after seeing how well they were getting along. She was a little surprised by Shadow's behavior, but then…

"By the way, Shadow, how have you been since the- er…"

Shadow's eyebrows rose. "You mean, since we last met, right? I've been fine, actually. After all, I did find…"

He tilted his head back toward Sonic, who smiled, his drifting line of sight describing his short attention span better than any exclamation of 'I'm _bored_' ever could. Rouge nodded in understanding, though she couldn't help but mess with them a little bit.

"I honestly have no idea what you see in him, Hon'."

Sonic started, blushing as he suddenly returned to the conversation at hand. Shadow laughed, more genuinely than before.

"Well, he's not very demanding, and he _definitely_ has a sense of humor."

Rouge wasn't sure what to make of this. It was within Shadow's boundaries to play along with the joke, but she had fully expected Sonic to respond first. She patted Sonic's shoulder. "I was just kidding, Sonic. Lighten up!"

* * *

Sonic did so, but his face certainly didn't. Shadow lowered an eyebrow at Sonic's redness. "Are you all right, Sonic? You look flushed."

The flustered hedgehog waved his hand for her to forget it, but Shadow's glance lingered for another moment before Rouge drew her attention again.

"Oh, he's all right," Rouge said, her interests obviously lying in maintaining the conversation for the moment. "So, care to elaborate on those adventures you mentioned?"

* * *

"Knuckles, you know I'm not supposed to answer the phone while flying," scolded Tails, speaking on his hands-free "car" phone. Knuckles, on the other end, didn't seem to care.

"_Well, what about for emergencies? That's worth it, right?_"

"I should say so, Knuckles," spoke Tails, ever with the pleasantries of phone speech. "What's the emergency?"

"_Well, according to your GPS, Angel Island should be right above Adabat, right?_"

Tails raised an eyebrow at Knuckles' odd hesitation with the subject. "Right. So, what's the emergency?"

"_I am not seeing Adabat. I am seeing Eggmanland._"

"You mean, like the old Eggmanland or a new one?" asked Tails, now on edge.

"_Like, a new one. In the shape of Adabat._"

Tails gulped. "Want me to take preparatory measures?"

"_I'd say it's a good idea. As for me, I'm going to redirect the island to a safe docking point. You?_"

"I'll have to stop for refueling in Apotos, but then I'll go north to Redwood Park to pick up Sonic and Rouge."

"_Sonic and Rouge are in Redwood Park? Huh._"

"I doubt they're in a dating situation, Knuckles," Tails chuckled, humorlessly. "I'll be a day at least. You?"

"_The same. See you at Mystic Ruins?_"

"Mystic Ruins it is," replied Tails, making a midair turn and hanging up, changing his flight plan over the computer. "This shouldn't take too long."

* * *

"So that's the story, eh? Well, I wouldn't expect any less from you guys." Rouge smiled and glanced at her watch. She was getting a call. "Well, gentlemen, I must be off- my government needs me."

She turned back toward the street and the window she'd jumped from, but she was stopped by Shadow's hand on her shoulder. "Er, Rouge? I'm kind of not a gentleman."

Sonic glanced up from his current mental conversation with Uncharted Territory to listen in. 'What'd he just say?' asked the demon, tilting his head.

"It actually turns out I'm a girl. I hope it doesn't change anything," said Shadow, somewhat apologetically. "Sorry you missed the memo."

* * *

Sonic's jaw dropped. He turned and looked at Uncharted Territory, who looked quite honestly… blissful. In fact, his clothing was changing into a rather long, white robe; a halo materialized above his head. His piercings and bangles vanished and he positively beamed, his smile practically reaching the edges of his muzzle. The spirit put a hand on Sonic's shoulder and spoke in perfect English: 'Wait 'til marriage, bro,' and disappeared.

Sonic's open mouth twitched into a smile. He understood everything now, and he just had to let Shadow know…

* * *

"_**I'M NOT GAY!**_"

Shadow's quills bristled in surprise and her eyebrows twisted into an expression of absolute puzzlement, as did Rouge's. They both slowly turned to face Sonic, who seemed absolutely enthralled by this fact. He said it again, in a somewhat disbelieving yet insanely happy tone. "_I'm not gay!_"

Rouge spoke up first. "Did you just figure that out _now?_"

Sonic maintained his manic grin and nodded. "_I'm not gay._"

Rouge was thoroughly weirded out, now. She shook her head and shut her eyes, completely lost. "What is this, I don't even-?"

"No, Rouge, let's hear him out." Rouge started at this, quite shocked that Shadow didn't share her bewilderment. Sonic seemed to take this as cue to explain.

"I mean, I wouldn't have _minded _being gay, I just didn't want to end up as flamboyant as… What I mean is; I didn't care as long as… Well, what I'm _saying_ is-…"

"You mean, this whole time, you-?" began Shadow, cutting off Sonic, but cut off by him nodding enthusiastically again. "And you didn't _know_ I-?" More nodding.

"Huh," responded Shadow, understanding but still somewhat stumped. "So why are you announcing it to the world, again?"

Sonic seemed to recognize his surroundings, now; glancing around the area at all the people who really weren't staring and probably didn't care that much. As impossible as it seemed, he was even redder than he had been before, his blush spreading to his ears and shoulders, as well as his chest. Shadow smiled, now enlightened. She placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder and stood on her toes to whisper in Sonic's rosy ear: "It's okay, Sonic. I'm not gay either."


	34. No rules here!

"Honestly, Tails, I just left him on the sidewalk proclaiming his love. I don't think he wants to go on the kind of adventure you're suggesting right now."

"_Proclaiming his-? Well, I guess Amy would have caught up with him sooner or later. Think you can get her ready for the trip, too?_"

"As far as I know, Amy is not here in town. Sonic's apparently been crushing on another hedgehog we know who has inexplicably swapped genders."

"_Who did what?_"

"Never mind, Tails. Now, I can probably convince Sonic to come, but I have a job I need to check in for, if you don't mind dropping me off. When will you be here?"

"_Tomorrow, probably around nine or ten in the morning. I can probably get you to D.C., but I have to get to Mystic Ruins with Sonic before anything else comes up with Eggman._"

"All right then, Tails." Rouge said, hanging up and turning back to the window. Sonic and Shadow were gone. "Maybe I can still catch them."

* * *

Sonic leaned back into the park bench, considering his recent good luck. He couldn't stop smiling.

Shadow returned with a couple of chili dogs she'd gotten from a nearby cart and sat down next to Sonic, handing him one. She glanced up at the leaves falling from the tree behind them as Sonic dug in. "Ring for your thoughts, Sonic?" she mumbled, taking a small bite of her own chili dog.

Sonic swallowed his mouthful of food and hurriedly wiped his mouth off before sitting back up and facing Shadow. "Um, maybe we should go steady?"

"Sonic," laughed Shadow, "I knew you were famous for moving fast, but…"

"You don't wanna go steady? Okay. I can wait," replied Sonic, crinkling the paper wrapper on his chili dog in slight discomfiture.

Shadow laughed again, playfully elbowing Sonic in the arm. "Of course I want to go steady."

Sonic blushed again, more lightly than before. "I can't remember the last time I smiled this much. My face hurts."

"Mine too. It just means we're exercising those muscles a little more than usual," explained Shadow, sharing Sonic's grin. "…I like your smile. It's inimitable."

"In- …In-im-mit-able?"

"Cannot be imitated: In- imitable. Unique;" Shadow clarified.

"Why don't you just say unique?" asked Sonic, tilting his head a little.

"It's not unique enough," replied Shadow, shaking off one of the fallen leaves that had landed on her head. "Besides, I've always been a show-off."

Sonic chuckled, returning to his previous, unperturbed posture. "You're not the only one."

* * *

"There you are!" announced a voice from behind them, up in the tree. "I've been looking all over the city for you!"

"Rouge?" asked Shadow, looking back up as the bat leapt down in front of them. "What's up?"

"Eggman's up, apparently. Tails called. He's coming tomorrow to take us to Mystic Ruins, and-."

"No!" exclaimed Sonic, no longer relaxed. "Why does Eggman have to attack _now?_ I can't believe this."

"Sonic, we knew this would happen." Shadow said, attempting to calm him.

"I _know,_ but…" Sonic found himself lacking sufficient words for argument. 'I don't wanna go' being the best he could come up with.

"Well, you two have until tomorrow morning to work things out. I have to go pack."

* * *

"Yeah, sure," grumbled Sonic, sarcastically, crumpling up the now-empty hot dog wrapper as Rouge left as quickly as she had arrived.

"Sonic, it'll be fine," reassured Shadow, gently reclaiming the wrapper. "You can handle Eggman, easy."

"Maybe it's not Eggman I'm worried about," complained Sonic, standing up and stretching a bit.

"Well, what is it, then?" asked Shadow, tossing the waste paper into the nearby trash can.

Sonic thought a moment. He was worried, that was for sure. But _what _was he worried about? He'd had a similar feeling in the movie theatre, and the library, and the woods… and the hospital… and three months before when he followed the crappy old tour bus that Shadow entered town on.

"Maybe I'm worried about you." That sounded about right. "I mean, you remember all the trouble you've gotten into since you came to live here? What if something happens while I'm not here to help?"

"Sonic, I think I can take care of myself. You do recall the three months I lived here without meeting you, right?"

"Yeah, but… You remember the guy in the library? What would you have done if I wasn't there?"

"You have a point, but I-…"

"And I know you wouldn't have been out in the woods if I hadn't showed up, but what about the mutant kudzu thing? I saved you there, too."

"That's just it, Sonic: not much happens when you're not around. Aside from the occasional boredom, there's nothing around here you need to protect me from."

Sonic sighed, but turned around smiling. "What am I here for then, if not to protect?"

Shadow smiled back, walking by him toward the apartment complex. "If that's all the purpose you think you have in life, then you must be a very disconsolate person."

"Gesundheit," Sonic chuckled, following her. "Hey, you know, maybe we shouldn't go back to the apartment just yet."

"Why's that?" asked Shadow.

"Well, I think we missed a spot on our tour…"

* * *

"Amy Rose. I didn't know you were in town," commented Rouge, running into the aforementioned in front of her hotel room.

"It's nice to see you too, Rouge. What brings you here?" replied the oddly aggravated girl, setting down her suitcase.

"I was on a mission, but it turned out to be pointless. What's up with you?"

"I spent last night in jail after I got arrested for breaking and entering. And some other things, but Eiglestein dropped the charges."

"You didn't get a phone call?"

"I _did_, but _somebody_ didn't pick up. Now I don't really care what happens as long as I get out of this stupid town!"

Rouge wasn't sure what to say. Should she mention Eggman?

"Good luck with that, Amy. See you around." Nah, she didn't really need an adventure right now, anyhow…

* * *

"Westwood Wildlife Reserve?" questioned Shadow, upon seeing the 'spot' Sonic had mentioned. "I thought this place was restricted."

"Yeah, but it's not really enforced. I've been through here tons of times and was never stopped once."

Indeed, there was no one guarding the entrance. Here, the road made three ways of a four-way stop, the fourth way being an unkempt dirt road leading off into fields and occasional patches of trees before the plain led to another forest. While the rest of the fields were separated from the city by a large wall, the road was blocked off by a guard rail that seemed rusted into the lowered position. No cars would get through, but it was easily passed on foot, which Sonic demonstrated.

Shadow followed, despite the fact that the sky was rapidly darkening, nobody knew where they would be, and, save for the two of them, the place was absolutely void of all sentient life.

Of course, these things didn't exactly occur to either of them, as the pink and orange sunset (to Sonic, just pink) cast a comforting shade across the dry grass of the plain and the sounds of the city faded behind them, replaced with the relaxed drone of crickets and the occasional call of an owl.


End file.
